Is oil based stain dead?

CoconutPete

I scrubbed off my deck and wanted to give it a nice coat of sealer this year before things got too out of hand with other stuff.

Sherwin williams flat out said "we only have water based"

Home depot and Lowe's tried to give me 4 different ones that said "oil based" on the can but also said "easy soap and water cleanup" on the bottom of the can..... Now .. the fundamentals of chemistry could have changed in the past yeas, but to me oil based means you have to clean your hands with gasoline or something similar when you get it all over yourself - not soap and water. That's what my grand daddy taught me when I was 8.

At least the guy at Benjamin Moore had a reason - "The VOC laws changed so we don't have anything purely oil based anymore".

So... is truly oil based stain/sealer really dead? Do i have no choice but to go to a woodworking place and buy waterlox by the quart? Am I crazy for wanting this stuff?

Matthewt1970

It all depends on your location. Some States have banned Oil based paints and stains. I believe Home Depot tried to sell you Waterbourne Stain which is "Kinda" like oil with some emulsion trickery but it is still a water based paint. Do you have a Benjamin Moore Dealer near you?

__________________
Latex Primer: Good for Drywall, that's about it.
Behr Paint: The plastic buckets are good, that's about it.

CoconutPete

Yes I do. See my original post for what that guy said.

CaptRandy

Look at Ready Seal or Armstrong Clark sealers.