Frank Pellow
Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2007
- Messages
- 2,743
I am part way through a four summer project to sand and then re-stain the exterior of my cedar 'log' cabin at Pellow's Island in Lake Pivabiska near Hearst in Northern Ontario. When I started the project in 2005, I described the project in threads on other forums but, never here. Thinking about it some more, this seems to be the most appropriate forum. So decided to start a new thread here, describe the project, and report what was done in 2005, 2006, and 2007 and what needs to be done to finish the job in 2008.
Background:
Pellow's Camp (also known as Pellow's Island) has been in our family since the 1920s. The main building at Pellow's Camp is a Pan Abode western red cedar 'log cabin' that I built in 1976. It is partly constructed on the rock foundation of the original real log cabin that my dad and his friends built in the early 1930s. That cabin burned down in 1961.
I used Solignum Woodland Natural stain on the walls and that looked quite good for about 5 years on the walls exposed to lots of sun and about 10 on the walls with little exposure to sun. So, periodically I have sanded down, then re-stained different sides of the cabin.
In the past I used a combination of a Makita belt sander and a Makita palm sander. They were much harder to use than my Festool sanders, the sanding job took about twice as long, and the results were not nearly as good.
This time around, I used Solignum semi-gloss Woodland Natural stain. Previously I used their gloss version but this time I used their semi-gloss version. The first reason for doing this is that I think that the cabin looks more natural with the reduced gloss. The second is that I hope the semi gloss stain will last longer. No one has told me that it will last longer, but I have a feeling that it will.
I will split this post into sections for each of the years that I have worked on the project.
2005
This year it was the north wall's turn. I last stained this wall 16 years ago so the turn was long overdue as you can see from these photos:
[attachimg=#1]
[attachimg=#2]
I used all three of my Festool sanders to do the job:
First, the Rotex RO 150 E random orbital sander in aggressive mode to remove the majority of old stain and decayed wood (with Saphire P50 paper). I also used this sander with Saphire P24 paper on the log ends. This was followed by a fast pass in fine mode with Rubin P80 paper.
[attachimg=#3]
Next the Deltex DX 93 E extended triangular pad sander (with Saphire P60 paper) to remove gunk from corners and groves. Note that, when the extended pad is used, it is not possible to connect the sander to the vacuum but I was willing to the sacrifice the benefits of the vacuum for the extra reach provided by the extended pad. Again, I followed this up with a quick pass with Rubin P80 paper.
[attachimg=#4]
Finally the Duplex LS 130 EQ linear sander (with Rubin P80 paper) to smooth wood before re-staining. Although the vacuum is not connected in the picture below, I did use it most of the time with the linear sander.
[attachimg=#5]
Although my Festool sanders make the whole job faster, easier, and better, it still takes quite a bit of time (19 hours to be precise).
Here are photos of the two segments of the north wall after the sanding was completed:
[attachimg=#6]
[attachimg=#7]
And here are photos of the finished north wall:
[attachimg=#8]
[attachimg=#9]
The finish on the very top logs had not deteriorated, so I left it. Those logs (see the top at the far right of the first photo) are glossier and do not look as good as the others.
2006:
This year, I sanded the west wall (last sanded and stained in 1998). Again, it took 19 hours to do the sanding. Here, the sanding task is underway:
[attachimg=#10]
Here, the sanding job is finished:
[attachimg=#11]
Here, staining is underway:
[attachimg=#12]
Here, the staining job is finished:
[attachimg=#13]
Here is another view of the finished west wall, this time taken from the lake:
[attachimg=#14]
2007:
It was the turn of the east wall this year. It was last sanded and stained in 1997.
This time I did not have my Festool vacuum with me.
That makes the sanders less efficient, results in the use of more sandpaper, and makes a big mess with dust all over the place.
Just starting to sand:
[attachimg=#15]
All sanded, starting to satin:
[attachimg=#16]
Finished:
[attachimg=#17]
This wall has the smallest amount of material but some of it is difficult to get at, so sanding took almost as long as the other walls -17 hours instead of the 19 that I spent sanding the other two. And the reduction in sanding time was more than made up for by the time it took me to clean up all the dust on the porch and on the walls.
The walls that I stained in 2005 and 2006 still look great and I am optimistic that I will never have to sand the place down to bare wood again.
2008:
I'm looking forward to getting up there again soon and completing the job and I will add to this thread when I do so. It?s the south wall's turn this year. It was last done in 2001 which is less of a gap than any of the other walls ?but this wall is the most exposed and, of course, it gets the most sun.
Background:
Pellow's Camp (also known as Pellow's Island) has been in our family since the 1920s. The main building at Pellow's Camp is a Pan Abode western red cedar 'log cabin' that I built in 1976. It is partly constructed on the rock foundation of the original real log cabin that my dad and his friends built in the early 1930s. That cabin burned down in 1961.
I used Solignum Woodland Natural stain on the walls and that looked quite good for about 5 years on the walls exposed to lots of sun and about 10 on the walls with little exposure to sun. So, periodically I have sanded down, then re-stained different sides of the cabin.
In the past I used a combination of a Makita belt sander and a Makita palm sander. They were much harder to use than my Festool sanders, the sanding job took about twice as long, and the results were not nearly as good.
This time around, I used Solignum semi-gloss Woodland Natural stain. Previously I used their gloss version but this time I used their semi-gloss version. The first reason for doing this is that I think that the cabin looks more natural with the reduced gloss. The second is that I hope the semi gloss stain will last longer. No one has told me that it will last longer, but I have a feeling that it will.
I will split this post into sections for each of the years that I have worked on the project.
2005
This year it was the north wall's turn. I last stained this wall 16 years ago so the turn was long overdue as you can see from these photos:
[attachimg=#1]
[attachimg=#2]
I used all three of my Festool sanders to do the job:
First, the Rotex RO 150 E random orbital sander in aggressive mode to remove the majority of old stain and decayed wood (with Saphire P50 paper). I also used this sander with Saphire P24 paper on the log ends. This was followed by a fast pass in fine mode with Rubin P80 paper.
[attachimg=#3]
Next the Deltex DX 93 E extended triangular pad sander (with Saphire P60 paper) to remove gunk from corners and groves. Note that, when the extended pad is used, it is not possible to connect the sander to the vacuum but I was willing to the sacrifice the benefits of the vacuum for the extra reach provided by the extended pad. Again, I followed this up with a quick pass with Rubin P80 paper.
[attachimg=#4]
Finally the Duplex LS 130 EQ linear sander (with Rubin P80 paper) to smooth wood before re-staining. Although the vacuum is not connected in the picture below, I did use it most of the time with the linear sander.
[attachimg=#5]
Although my Festool sanders make the whole job faster, easier, and better, it still takes quite a bit of time (19 hours to be precise).
Here are photos of the two segments of the north wall after the sanding was completed:
[attachimg=#6]
[attachimg=#7]
And here are photos of the finished north wall:
[attachimg=#8]
[attachimg=#9]
The finish on the very top logs had not deteriorated, so I left it. Those logs (see the top at the far right of the first photo) are glossier and do not look as good as the others.
2006:
This year, I sanded the west wall (last sanded and stained in 1998). Again, it took 19 hours to do the sanding. Here, the sanding task is underway:
[attachimg=#10]
Here, the sanding job is finished:
[attachimg=#11]
Here, staining is underway:
[attachimg=#12]
Here, the staining job is finished:
[attachimg=#13]
Here is another view of the finished west wall, this time taken from the lake:
[attachimg=#14]
2007:
It was the turn of the east wall this year. It was last sanded and stained in 1997.
This time I did not have my Festool vacuum with me.
That makes the sanders less efficient, results in the use of more sandpaper, and makes a big mess with dust all over the place.Just starting to sand:
[attachimg=#15]
All sanded, starting to satin:
[attachimg=#16]
Finished:
[attachimg=#17]
This wall has the smallest amount of material but some of it is difficult to get at, so sanding took almost as long as the other walls -17 hours instead of the 19 that I spent sanding the other two. And the reduction in sanding time was more than made up for by the time it took me to clean up all the dust on the porch and on the walls.
The walls that I stained in 2005 and 2006 still look great and I am optimistic that I will never have to sand the place down to bare wood again.
2008:
I'm looking forward to getting up there again soon and completing the job and I will add to this thread when I do so. It?s the south wall's turn this year. It was last done in 2001 which is less of a gap than any of the other walls ?but this wall is the most exposed and, of course, it gets the most sun.
