You could also use a clear lacquer finish in a dead flat or satin sheen. It is usually not used by homeowners, but by professional painters and cabinet makers. Sikkens is a good product, although not available in our area because of lack of customer demand. Any oil based product will give an amber look to the wood, while lacquer finish is non-yellowing. Some people use the Benjamin Moore clear wood finish(I forget the name)that is water based, but Sikkens would be a better choice. You could also look at the Zar Polyurethanes or the Deft Clear Wood Finishes.

I'm going to tout a product here. I need to re-stain our cedar picket fence. (It's covered in a white solid stain.) I wanted to use Cabot cleaner since I'm putting on Cabot stain, but dealer was closed. So I went to local PPG store and bought a gallon of PPG Deck Cleaner S-74. I wasn't too fired up, because any time I've used that kind of product it just doesn't do well for me. This stuff is WOW! Although it says not to mix with other cleaners, I did add a bit of bleach. No explosions occurred ;) Put it in a garden sprayer, let sit 5 minutes or so, rinse off (per instructions). I typically do this kind of project early summer, but am behind. So mold, mildew, gray had developed on north side of white fence. It all just washed away. Clingy muddy paw prints on south side all washed away. I did not have to pick up a scrub brush once. (I usually have to scrub that fence with bleach water at least twice a summer.) DH even noticed, and he never notices anything ;) The fence looks like it doesn't even need to be re-stained now. I had to do some deck cleaning at rental, but PPG store was closed. Went to Menards, they carry PPG so grabbed a couple jugs of the cleaner. It is not the same strength as that sold in PPG store (it doesn't say "S-74" on label either and ingredients are in different order). So PPG Deck Cleaner from big box stores does not clean as effectively as the product sold by a PPG store. NOTE: read the caution on the bottle if you try it. Wood that has been previously excessively pressure washed will 'raise' with this product. That did occur on a railing at rental deck, but it didn't help that I let it sit too long on that railing. (Nearly 25 minutes, a neighbor came by to chat right after I sprayed it on.) To the original OP: we have cedar picket and cedar privacy fences and pressure treated (old) deck. On our cedar privacy fence I used Behr semi-transparent stain initially, in cedar tone. I had to re-stain every other year because of fade and loss of ability to repel water. Two years ago I re-stained the privacy fence with Cabot's after a lot of research. Very impressed, still looks good, no mold growing below horizontal boards on north facing side, still repels water. The cedar picket fence was done with Olympic (held up very well but mildewed easily). I'm switching to Cabot's because it's done so well on the privacy fence. The deck has been a small nightmare. We moved in 12 years ago, it had a transparent stain. I wanted to stain it solid to match the house. I used Maxum to start. Good stuff on vertical surfaces and railings, horrible on walk path. I had to re-do horizontal areas each summer. Switched to Rez at suggestion of paint store. Held a bit better, I could get by with just a touch up on traffic paths each summer and a complete redo every other year. (I primed with Rez primer first.) We hope to have a new deck before winter. I truly don't know what I will put on it when it's time. During the course of my product shopping over the years, one paint store owner told me he wished he could have caught me before I ever put a 'solid' product on the deck. He only recommends transparent for surfaces that get walked on for the very reasons I was running into. Constant recoat. Whatever I use it will be Cabot's. I'm very impressed with their products. Here is a link that might be useful: PPG S-74 Deck Cleaner

Jan, TWP would be a good choice. TWP is also a penetrating sealer. I could have picked either company and became a distributor, I chose the Bakers because it is TWP\\\'s basic formulation (200 series) then Tom Baker and company adds their pigmentation. I think the colors are more even and prettier than the TWP formulations. Most customers of mine are blown away by the appearance of the Bakers. It enhances the natural wood grain. It does not cover it in any way. As it sits on the wood for a week or so it dives down creating an even more rich tone. The only caveat with TWP, Bakers and these types of oils is that they require two coats. The two coats can be done at the same time and usually you can by with just one coat on the rails. Hope this helps. PS: The more pigmentation the better the protection from sun damage. But in a scenario where the sun is shielded by a roof,you can cut a product like Bakers with the clear so you have a more natural appearance.

Between life, work, weather and inexperience, my new 20' x 16' cedar deck has taken me a year to build. The horizontal boards were installed last November. We would like the deck stain to look like similar to this except with white vertical rails too. It doesn't have to be quite as orange but we like that overall look. We hate grayed decks and solid stains for the deck boards . Here is the current color of most of the deck. The step and rail were built in the last 2 months, showing the oxidation. *Sanding* 1) Horizontal surface- after cleaning the deck with the recommended agents, should I sand or power wash the cedar deck to reclaim some color? Or is that unnecessary, problematic and or overkill? 2) If no to sanding/power washing overall, is it ok to use 80 grit Sand paper to fix a few trouble spots? A few 20' boards stuck out of the wood stack and grayed unevenly by August (like a wicked sock tan). I saw some warnings about sandpaper closing the pores of the wood. *Stain choice* 1) What stain would you recommend for the deck boards? I was leaning towards Armstrong Clark Wood Stain. 2) We want a solid white stain for all vertical boards ( treated posts, cedar risers, balusters & rail boards). We'd prefer to avoid the flaking and sanding of paint and some stains. If we apply enough coats can we achieve a vivid, strong white? Here is an early sketch of the design (except it won't be this dark and the top rail is continuous) : *Temperature* Naturally rain is a concern for staining, but does it matter if it is 85-95 degrees when staining vs 70?