cedar fencing facelift

[Vince Shriver]

Is there some kind of acid or soot compound that will make new cedar fencing look old, like it has been up for several years? I know that sounds a little nuts, but when I have to replace one or more cedar boards in my fence the new boards make the fence look cobbled up. Thanks

[Rich Engelhardt]

Might be easier/better to just spray the whole thing w/a stain and blend new and old together.
A semi transparent oil stain, if one is still available where you live, should make all the pieces look the same.
A solid stain will also - but - I prefer a semi transparent if the boards have been previously unfinished.

[Robert LaPlaca]

Cabot sells a product called Bleaching Oil, basically it's a super transparent gray stain that has some chemicals that bleach the color of the new ceder to silver grey (aka. driftwood) and some anti fungicides. I guess if you are looking for the driftwood grey look this product may work for you.

[Vince Shriver]

That wold be it, Thaks Robert.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Those weathering oils are only so - so.
They are a gray colored semi transparent stain with a weak acid added to accelerate the weathered look.
They take anywhere from 6 to 18 months to achieve a weathered look, so, don't expect everything to look nice and even for about a year.

How long does it take w/out the weathering oil?
About a year.....give or take...

[phil harold]

back on Long island we did an experiment with cedar weathering

cedar shingled a 4x8 sheet of plywood mounted to some posts

and divided and stained
1/3 bleaching oil
1/3 semi transparent gray
1/3 solid stain gray

5 years later they all looked the same

so to blend new wood in to old wood
pressure wash the whole fence let it dry and then solid stain
It will start out all looking the same and then weather nicely for you

Bleaching stain only works well with sunlight