Product Review - Porters Palm Beach Black

The sales blurb:

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Open up space and give elegance and continuity to your home by having sophisticated, ebony-coloured floorboards throughout, or use on exterior timber for its wonderfully dramatic charcoal black colour.

Made with UV resistant pigments. Can be applied as either a transparent wash effect or an opaque finish. Water wash up. Apply by brush, roller or spray.

Exterior or interior. Excellent for use on garden furniture, exterior plywood, weatherboard, shingle or interior furniture and floorboards.

The real life experience:

In one word - Wow!

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Ok so I am currently making a new gate with recycled jarrah joists as battens. I wanted a black finish, but wasn’t too keen on paint. I also have another project coming up, hi-fi speakers, which needs a Matt black finish whilst allowing the grain to show to match some existing furniture. I thought I would give the Porters Palm Beach Black a go on the speakers, and as I had excess I thought I would try it on the gate as well. The gate project was ready before the speakers.

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Anyway - application is a breeze. The stain is water based and basically goes on like water. Applied with a brush it went on smoothly and quickly. Unlike paint which seems to draw out leaving brush marks, this product seeps into the timber and was basically instantly 100% coverage with no need to go back over again.

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Drying time was quick and it was touch dry in about 15-20 minutes, so I could just run through all the boards, then go back and flip and start again. I managed a single coat on all these battens in about 90 minutes. It was basically odourless which is a pleasant change.

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I find with paint any over brush over the side tends to get “claggy” when turning the board and doing the next side. With this product it simply blended when that face was done leaving a really sharp edge that didn’t give the appearance of buildup like a paint.

Jarrah perhaps isn’t the best timber to try this on, and I suspect it would be more interesting with a more open pronounced grain like American Oak (the speaker project) however it still allowed the grain to show up a little on close inspection, or a complete black from a distance. It’s possible to apply up to two coats (three coats are not recommended), but I was happy with the single coat which is another bonus. I’m not sure it it’s recommended but I would be interested in experimenting with watering it down just a touch, or trying to while off before drying to expose just a hint more timber.

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Coverage is claimed at 20m²/L - I would be inclined to believe these claims as I felt I didn’t use too much out of the tin. The cost was about $60/L so not super cheap, however paint with a dark base would be around $50/L so it’s not bad and much easier to apply. Wash up in water was simple and the brush was completely clean with no apparent residue after about 1 minute.

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I’m certainly looking forward to trying this on the American Oak project, and will also be keen to experiment with some smaller projects, like boxes where I think it would work well when used in combination with a highly figured lid or the like. It might be a good replacement for other ebonising timber techniques with a little trial and error.

Time will tell how well it stands up externally and protects the timber. I will update if I notice any changes one the gate is up. Depending how it goes I might add the photos of the American Oak when that project is finished.

As always - no affiliation with the supplier. I paid full retail and am just sharing my honest opinion as it may help others.

Cheers

Stinky

Watsons has a nice black Japan as well..

Thanks Stinky.I'm impressed with the one coat application.

Me too. For the same project I had to use some treated pine. This required two coats of undercoat, and then three coats of black Weathershield ..... and it still looks crap compared to the Porters finish :)

For those still playing along at home .... here is my first trial sample of the Palm Beach Black on some American White Oak veneer for the home theatre speakers I’m planning on starting today :

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Again single coat application. No surface prep done at all, simply painted the product over the board with no sanding.

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When standing the board vertical you can just pick up some areas where there isn’t quite enough coverage, but it’s more evident in the photos than reality. I was quite happy with how it seemed to highlight the grain - I suspect it has raised the grain slightly which has enhanced the pattern. The final feel is somewhat textural.

Again happy with the results and keen to test it out on the finished speakers.

The speakers will be sitting next to this commercially made solid American Oak unit.

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Not a bad match. I might try a second coat on my sample to see what difference that will make.

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Hi there
New to this forum, and just registered as keen to find out more about black staining some timber.
I’ve got a bunch of timber retaining walls throughout my property – treated pine logs & posts.
I’m looking to turn them black, and am leaning towards stain over paint.
I assumed Porters Palm Beach Black stain would work on treated pine, but your comment makes me think otherwise?
If I can’t use Palm Beach Black Stain, are there alternatives? Any guidance as to what the best approach would be?
Many thanks

Hi …. Welcome to the forums.

I would suggest giving Porters technical department to discuss why they don’t recommend the use of Palm Beach Black on treated pine. In my experience the technical departments of paint companies are fairly good to deal with and seem to get excited when somebody gets equally excited about tech stuff. Could be worth just saying your are writing an architectural specification and you want to get the right product.

I suspect that the treatment process would limit the penetration ability of the stain and it wouldn’t let as well. I can only go off the data sheet as we were planning to use it on a timber fence - after reading this I just changed the timber fence to hardwood :)

Keep us posted on what you find out.

Hi again
Thanks for your guidance. The specifications sheet does warn against use on treated timber, but I decided to call for technical advice as you suggested.

The gentleman I spoke to at Porters Paints was most helpful! he lent me ~30mins of his time...

In short, it seems Porter's Palm Beach Black water-based stain *can* be used on treated pine, assuming the pine is thoroughly prepared:
1. apply high pressure cleaner
2. mix 3 parts water, 1 part bleach and scrub against mouldy areas (or use something like Wet & Forget)
3. with a stiff bristle brush, apply a wood cleaner (such as Intergrain UltraPrep Timber)
4. sand down areas of the pine that appear grey/dead (although I've just read this might not be advised for CCA treated pine, for example?)
5. once dry, and temperature isn't extreme, apply Palm Beach Black stain - for best results use a brush and wipe off excess with a lint-free cloth within 2-3 minutes

I've been doing some more reading, however, and I'm yet to determine whether a water-based stain (like Porter's Palm Beach Black) or an oil-based stain (which generally won't come in as dark a black but might have better preserving properties compared to water-based stains) is the way to go...

hi - did the rep mention anything about age and dryness of the treated pine? It seems like a major amount of prep for dry good condition pine sleepers.

Not sure it matter, the porters black seems to be out of stock everywhere at the moment - same problem as your heykrazi - looking to make the ghastly koppers log retainer walls disapear in a job im doing

Hi pharmaboy2

My bad, I should have clarified: the preparation process I've described is for MY treated pine walls, which are ~20 years old and do have some swelling, mould, aged sections. Aim of any preparation I'm told is to ensure no mould, no deadness, and to have all the wood as uniform as possible so the stain takes evenly everywhere.

I haven't actually checked on stockage of Palm Beach Black... I'm just gathering information at this stage, might even have to wait until Spring as it's starting to get too cold overnight where I am.

I am also still investigating whether Palm Beach Black (water-based stain) or something like Black Japan (oil-based stain, which won't go totally black but ~may~ have better preserving properties vs. water-based stain) is the way to go... I've been told both are standalone products (ie. shouldn't be combined with another preserving product?), so I'm trying to choose the one that ticks as many boxes as possible...
Will be speaking to Dulux's technical advice team again on Monday.

cheers for that - dont worry about preservative effect. treated pine only rots where it is wet and water is trapped, then you get dry rot (ironic naming much). Black stain is all about making a terrible looking wall having much better aesthetics.

H4 treated pine can last almost forever when done well - I know some Koppers treated pine walls that are very near 50 years old and still going well - with wet clay behind them, but i also know of walls built 10 years ago with ostensibly the same rated product that will not see out this decade in a fit.

The only way to make a retaining wall last longer is to dig out the soil side entirely, treat on that side , then install great drainage so it doesnt remain wet.

Anyway, report back on the dulux tech dept