Did Penofin turn your wood dark brown or black?

[Lee1]

Posted - 08/22/2004 : 17:06:21
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Did you use "Penofin Performance Oil Finish" on your cedar or log home, deck or fence? Did this stain turn your wood finish dark brown or black? Well this is what we've learned you can do!!

#1.) Register your complaint with www.ripoffreport.com This is a free, excellent, well resourced worldwide consumer website. Is accessed by national media, legal communities and consumer watchdog organizations. Submit several photos, along with your report, if at all possible. We have decided that we have learned the hard way about this product after investing much time & money. We were so extremely deceived and have been ignored by Performance Coatings, Inc. for so long, that we are now rallying other victims to join in a nationwide class action lawsuit against Performance Coatings. We've done the homework and are garnering legal representation to go after these guys. So after putting your story & pictures on "ripoffreport.com"; our lawyers will then contact the Rip-off Report folks to have YOU contact us if interested.

#2.) Make numerous, unrelenting calls (and/or send a letter of complaint) to the makers of "Penofin" i.e. "Performance Coatings". They know that this product does not live up to it's claims, hence rarely return phone calls. However, they fear angry consumers who call them directly! Make sure to let them know exactly what their product did to your home, deck or fence! Performance Coatings, Inc.; P.O. Box 1569; 360 Lake Mendocino Drive; Ukiah, CA 95482; main #707-462-3023 or #1-800-PENOFIN; Fax #707-462-6139; website www.penofin.com; CEO is Barbara Newell #707-462-7459; VP of Sales & Marketing is Joan Griswold #707-462-3023

#3.) If you still need to restore your cedar or log home, deck or fence; we can highly recommend using a product called "Wood Iron". Look in the yellow pages under "Wood Finishing & Restoration" or "Decks-Construction & Maintenance". Most "Wood Iron" professionals are very well versed in removing penofin, as they receive a plethora number of these requests. Check out the before & after photos as posted on "www.ripoffreport.com"

[Gman086]

Wow!

Sorry to hear of your severe darkening problem! I've read some of your other posts and am glad to hear you're a molecular biologist with a "scientific" way of thinking. Then I'm sure you know all about tannins in cedar and what happens with iron tannate when you apply a solvent-borne penetrating sealer like Penofin??? That's right, it darkens!!! Fortunately this is rare unless the cedar has a "higher-than-average" amount of tannins which appears to be the case in your situation. This problem can be solved by applying a cleaning compound utilizing oxalic acid which will convert the iron from a +3 state back to the +2 state.

I am puzzled by another post in which you referred to the "rosewood oil" causing the darkening problem. Did you know that rosewood oil has a lower iodine value than even linseed oil? That means it has a lower level of unsaturation, and is thus less likely to oxidize and darken. Nearly ALL solvent based wood deck stains are using large amounts of linseed oil!

What is my background? Let's just say I'm a consultant to the wood preservation industry with a lot of raw-material and problem solving knowledge. Penofin is an excellent product for most applications. Because it is formulated with specific "penetrating" solvents, it may have exacerbated your tannin problem more so than inferior penetrating products like the "Wood Iron" you tout. Not to say that Wood Iron is a bad product, it just will not penetrate as well but that may be a good thing in specific cases like yours.

I've also seen mention on this forum about the quality of Thompson's. I can assure you they have re-formulated that product in recent years and it is FAR superior to the Water-Seal products of old! Sikkens is also a good product IF you get the wood dry enough and surface prep is critical since you're encapsulating the wood (same with the epoxy I saw someone else recommend). Both type of products will come off in sheets if you DON'T follow the directions and have become too much of a customer service hassle for all but the largest manufacturers like Akzo. All in all, wood protective stains continue to develop with the consumer's best interest in mind. The big renaissance right now is reducing VOC's (solvents) so I think you'll see less and less of these types of problems in the future. Unfortunately it did not help you out in this case. In the future I would recommend using the Sikkens product for your log home IF you can get the wood dry enough before application. Otherwise a water-based stain from a reputable company will work for your maintenance finishing needs.

Best Regards,

G MAN


Knowledge IS power!

[SidneyRoche]

Restoration Hardware table ruined

I used Penofin CLEAR and it turned a charcoal color. What do I do now? Penofin is offering me Pro Tech brightener, but they say it will only lighten it

[HayZee518]

posting

the original posting is dated ten year prior to your answer. I doubt the user is even around.