Plan to dip my own red cedar shingles –about 12 square with Cabot clear solution (Heartwood). Looking for some great and efficient set ups that a 12 year old can work with. My idea is a box with a chicken wire bottom with plastic underneath with a hole over a bucket to catch drips, maybe 4′ x 6′, with wire running back and forth across the top, an inch or two apart, to keep the shingles upright.
But I’m open to ideas and suggestions. Thanks in advance.
Charlie
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Replies
Get an old length (or new) of 6" ogee gutter (alum or galv) and set it to drain to a bucket. Double up a strip of chicken wire and set it in the bottom of the gutter. Set your shingles in the gutter after they're dipped.
Charlie,
I've used the method you descibed a few times with success. My advice is to make the box as big as possible(you can do more at once this way). Mine was approx 4x6 and something like 10x3 would have been better. Put it at waist height, along with your dipping tray so you don't break your back.
--Steve
Charlie,
My wife dipped 17,000 shingles last summer in solid stain.
You really have to back brush the material to get the stain/paint/whatever into the grain. This also eliminates the drips that form and harden at the lower edge of the shingle.
We screwed 1-5/8" steel studs to the wall horizontally with the open edge up. The studs were spaced about 4" apart. The shingle was dipped and brushed, then the thin end was placed in the channel sticking out from the wall.
Start at the bottom and work up. The shingles will dry overnight.
Repeat ad-nauseum.
KM
Great!! Thanks KM. Think I'll try a saw kerf in strapping to hold them. Any memory of the rate at which your wife cranked these out: shingles per hour or boxes per hour or time for the whole job or something? And how much stain you need per square? I have about 12 square to do.
Again thanks, KM Charlie
KM,
I'm having a hard time picturing your setup. I see stee studs screwed temporarily to a wall horizontally at 4" intervals? 4" intervals sounds impossible if your shingles are 16" or 18" or 24" tall. What am I missing here?
I'm very interested in this setup as i too have many, many, many shingles to dip as well.
Thanks
Tim
A friend I worked for used an old wringer washer. Roller covers were installed on the wringer rollers. It worked well. Stain goes in the tub, run the shingle through the wringer, and then set them in a temporary rack to dry.