Cedar deck prep / sanding and staining

That is not true. Rain does not harm sanded decks and actually helps to open the pores, not close it. Yes, you will need to clean and brighten the wood.

First, this site is awesome and should be the only online decking information available as so much misinformation is spread.  I only come to this site for my answers now, so THANK YOU.

Thank you for the prompt reply to my questions.  Much appreciated as I am in the thick of this project now.  Since my post, I had to replace about 1/3 of my cedar deck boards due to rot on the ends where the screw holes were.  My cedar deck is only about 9-10 years old, so I am not really sure why or how so many were bad as I thought cedar was resistant to this sort of thing.  It probably has a lot to do with the amount of southern sun this deck gets and the wild weather swings here in Kansas City.  Anyway, my follow-up question is do I need to do any special prep on these fresh cedar (sanded, not rough cut) boards prior to staining?  I thought about hitting it with a quick 80 grit pass with my orbital sander.  Oh, and one last question.  I am removing all previous stain, completely, as I want to switch brands and bases (water to oil).  I need to sand the cedar 6x6 posts to help get the remaining stain off.  These posts have a grooved texture to them, however, in order to get the stain off, I will ended up sanding most of that grooving away.  Is this okay?  I have attached some pics of the current state, I didn't take any prior to beginning.

Have you seen this about new wood?: 

DECKSTAINHELP.COM "https://www.deckstainhelp.com/staining-a-new-deck/"

How to Stain a Brand New Deck: Best Way to Stain a New Deck

So you have a brand new deck and now it needs to be stained. We will teach you how to stain a new wood deck and how to prep a new deck for staining.

As for the grooves, it is not an issue if sanded off. You may want to finish the sanding. Let it weather through Summer, clean and brighten for final prep. Lightly clean and recoat the floor next year.

Great, thank you.  Just to clarify as I am not seeing information about a deck with both new and old wood (sorry if the info is there and I missed it).  I should let the entire deck weather for the rest of summer after I finish sanding or are you saying to just let the new boards weather for the summer (i.e. stain entire deck now except for new boards)? 

I need to put the balusters back on asap for safety reasons, so maybe I can go ahead and stain the baluster support boards and put the balusters back on and let the rest of the deck weather?

side note, I picture you as Ron Swanson and read your replies in his voice (I hope you are familiar with the character). 

Weather all, prep all, then stain all is really the easiest. If you want to not weather, then you could go ahead and final prep and then stain now but those new boards will need another coat in 6-12 months. No, not familiar with Ron. I assume he is super smart and knows everything?  👍 

His hobby is wood working in character and real life and knows all about all in terms of wood.  Great show (Parks & Rec).  Reading a lot of posts here and your replies, you just remind me of him.   Thanks for all the information Mr. Deck Stain Help.

You are welcome.

I've been using a palm sander, but it isn't quite enough to repair some several year old power washer damage marks.  I thought I might try a belt sander to make the job easier and quicker.  What grit do you recommend for sanding down the marks?  They appear to be near the surface and are not deep.

Second, some of the spaces between deck boards are pretty tight.  Is using a circular saw with a wide tooth a good idea to run down the board gaps to widen those tight ones?

60-80 grit. We have never tried the circular saw down the middle. Not sure if it will work well.

All finished with the TWP Cedartone 101 application.  Just putting the metal balusters and gate back on are all that is left.  I loved working with this stain.  Way better than the junk I used in years past.