Which is better for staining decks. I have a graco ultra max 395 or an old 1.8 NT 12v that I could throw some hoses and one of those trigger wands.
I’m thinking of selling the sprayer. I wanted to hear some opinions from the wood gurus before I did.
The Graco for sure.
I’ll never stain a deck again without an airless sprayer. Prep work like hanging plastic and taping can take some time but you can fly staining. I stained a 12X24 2nd level deck with a ton of spindles in 2-3 hours. If I would’ve poured each gallon of stain in a 5 gallon bucket at the beginning it probably would’ve been less than 2 hours. That was 2 coats and back brushing each coat. I’m sure the 12v would work but the particles will be kind of big. My mentor and wood guru @MDA1775 might even know something about that exact Graco model. I’m always bugging him when I have a big deck job. 
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That’s a great general use pump! I’ve sold several in the last few years. Pretty much any Sherwin Williams or HD can get you parts. Just make SURE you back roll.
It definitely takes longer to prep then to spray. But proper prep and shield work is paramount for paint or stain.
I did a pool deck and fence job with grace this year and was pleasantly surprised.
At first I was weary about running an oil base through the pump. But a mix of laquer thinner and propylene glycol rinsed it out just like a water base and mineral spirits.
My sprayer is a fine finish low pressure I think it can get down as low as 40psi.
I knocked out a ton of interior with it last year. With it and those fflp tips there is barely any over spray.
I always backroll with an 18” roller.
IF I ever do interior again I’d get the power roller.
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The 12v would be a mess with a water based product like Super Deck or similar but they are great for penetrating stains like Wood Defender or Ready Seal. You do have to clean them out if you use Ready Seal since it is film forming i.e. you can walk on it. I have never cleaned my Wood Defender rig and it was built in 2010. That’s a whole different conversation though. FFLP for rough cut cedar would take too many coats for my liking. I use a 517 to 519 for Super Deck on raw wood, I’ll drop to a 15 or maybe a 13 if it still has the old coating mostly intact. I do like the FFLP for spindles or pergola overheads but even then I have started just laying a canvas tarp on the overhead and spraying with the house masked it is almost an onsite spray booth. Both types of sprayers have their place.
Edit: Just reread the OP’s question. Keep the Graco for Decks. I have a 495 tall boy.
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I have a Graco and got the lacquer seal kit and not worries since.
I’m on the fence about getting the graco project sprayer or the x5. I am leaning towards the x5. I have a 600sf deck I will be spraying oil based stain on this Friday and wondering what the best one to get is? This is that same deck I stripped with sodium metasilicate recently and hit with oxalic after. It’s been drying for over 3 weeks now. What would the best tip be to use? @marinegrunt also used one was yours the x5? In addition to the deck the only spindles are on the steps and the rails around the rest of it are wood with metal panels for the siding. I will have to mask a lot would you guys recommend just painting the railing tops by hand and masking the metal or just spraying all of it?
I just did a deck last fall that had those galvanized hog panels. I ended up completely removing them because it would’ve been a pain and took forever staining around them. It was a pain taking them off but it was definitely less tedious and time consuming as staining or masking them off. It looks like yours are sandwiched though. The panels I did weren’t sandwiched so the backside would’ve been impossible to mask off. Yours might not be so bad. Mark recommended just staining them at the same time as the deck. I was using waterborne so not sure if you can do the same with oil based. The customers wanted theirs to stay gray anyways. They wanted them painted while I had them off so I went ahead and did that too. They paid a premium but they turned out pretty good. A lot of paint went to waste due to over spray. The was one of my last jobs before the season ended so was a great way to end the year.
Let Mark recommended a sprayer. He has used and has a number of different machines so can give you better advice than I can. The tip used depends on the viscosity of the stain and how wide of a spray pattern you want. The larger the orifice the more stain coming out of the tip. You want to keep it small enough to where the stain is still atomizing well though. If a tip is labeled “312” the first number is the width of the spray pattern. The 3 means it’s a 6" pattern when spraying at a distance of 12’ away and the 12 means it’s a .012 orifice size. For deck boards I usually use a 5 but will go down to a 2 for spindles. Make sure you have a variety of different tips and mess around with them to find out what works best for you. Your technique and speed will come into play with what tip works best. Just practice by spraying water at first so you can get an idea of how the different size tips work. I’ve used the no name tips on Amazon and they seem work well.
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Awesome thanks man. Practicing with water is a great idea! I am just gonna go for the x5 since it can spray way more gallons per year (lifespan). I know it’s not the greatest but it will be nice to have something I would look forward to using over a cheap handheld wager or some other knockoff brand. So it’s pretty easy to use I’m guessing? My main concern is having the stain be too thick, or dark, in some areas, even with back rolling it. I have a fair amount of experience painting but not staining. Can backrolling cause you to put too much stain on one spot and make it darker than the rest?
Staining is easier than painting. I always back brush. I don’t back roll. Not sure if there’s a difference though. Oil based stain shouldn’t be thick but I guess it depends on the type. I think a lot of oil based stains are penetrating so should be about the same consistency as water. Some waterborne are somewhat thick but I’ve never had an issue with some areas being darker than others. Super Deck from Sherwin Williams is more like a paint than a stain. I’m not a huge fan of it but it looks nice. I think this year I’m only going to offer Wood Defender oil based. Although, I think I’m going to try and stay away from staining. There sure is good money in it though. It takes some time to hang paper, plastic, and tape things off but the staining goes quick. Which brand of stain are you going to use on this job?
Unless you are doing a ton of spraying I wouldn’t go for one of the 12-1500.00 spray rigs. I have a Graco 495 tall boy it’s over kill even for me. The tall boy makes sense for me because of the number of fences I do but if you are concentrating on decks you don’t need to be able to wheel it around. @marinegrunt is right about the tips but if you’ve painted you already know all that stuff. I have gotten pretty cocky about masking and or not masking and just using shields, it has bit me in the ■■■ once or twice, maybe three times. A lot of what you do there will depend on what you are spraying. Look at the FFLP tips for things like spindles etc. It will take more passes but reduce over spray etc. I actually use Titan tips, they are way less expensive than Graco’s and I would probably buy a Titan spray rig this time around for the same reason. You can get some great deals if you are willing to negotiate. My sprayer was MSRP for just over 1500.00 and I got it for 1125.00. Find out who your local Graco or Titan rep is. Mine in DFW is a great guy, knows the machines, provides tech support and will help you with pricing. I worked with him and my SW commercial rep on pricing for anything significant, otherwise I have a great relationship with the mgr of my primary store. I back brush or back roll almost all WB jobs, never with Wood Defender except for the occasional garage door.
There is a fella on here that works at a blue paint store. @Greenman might know something. Hit him up for his recommendation. I was going to go with an x17 or so and he advised the 390. THe 390 can be picked up on sale under 900 with extra tips (rebate form). Tips from graco run about 30 a pop. Graco now sells like 5 different kind of tips, they didn’t have that when I painted. I am not saying Graco is the best or the cheapest.
The deck brush is nice for between the boards and cut ins, but there are other ways to get between boards too. There are a large variety of roller sizes, roller covers, and roller frames take a look at them. When you pick up a roller frame, spin it, if it doesn’t freely and smoothly spin around with nothing on it put it back on the shelf and find another brand. Once you load the cover with paint or stain and begin rolling, a non smooth rolling frame will catch and “skid” across the substrate. Depending on what your doing that is a 30 second fix or a mess. I would stay clear of many of the el cheapo roller frames. If your backrolling, don’t use a dry roller cover, get it damp (not soaked) with the material you are using (oil latex).
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Pretty sure the 390 is on probuy for like $799 this month. I’ll check tomorrow for you at work.
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