Railroad Ties for Dummy Landscapers

Railroad tie retaining wall

We'll be honest: some of the questions we find "answered" at the former eHow.com and its many daughter niche sites never made much sense in the first place. Take, for instance, "How to Stain Railroad Ties": did the OQ really mean "stain"? Did the person confuse landscape timbers with railroad ties? Was this a joke? The idea makes no sense to us, but that never stopped an eHow.com contributor, and Hubert Oresco was no exception. You can find his stupidity about the topic at Hunker.com.

We'll get the details out the way right up front. An actual railroad tie has already been treated with creosote and/or CCA (copper, chromium, arsenic). An actual railroad tie is "rustic," which to us suggests that the surface is pretty rough and probably includes some nicks, gouges, and the occasional spike hole. That did not, however, represent a problem to Oresco, who went straight to Minwax for instructions on applying their stain.
That's right: Minwax. He quoted from their instructions for interior stain, if anyone's interested, including,

1. "Sand the railroad ties with 120-grit sandpaper." – No word on whether he thinks you should do it by hand...
2. "Wipe the surface of the railroad ties clean of dust with a tack cloth. Dust will create imperfections in your finish." – Does this putz not know what a railroad tie looks like? "Imperfections" are the least of your concerns!
3. "Wipe on a coat of stain with a clean cloth." – It had better be some tough cloth...
4. "After the stain has dried, buff the railroad ties with a clean cloth. This will smooth any grain that has been raised by the finishing process and give the final finish a shine." – Oh, yeah, we do want our railroad ties to shine...

This putz posted perhaps a dozen articles at eHow, many of them about staining or refinishing. If they are all as asinine as this, he's a veritable Dumbass of the Day gold mine! That's not to mention that this idiot wants you to sand wood that's treated with toxic chemicals, and his advice is to "wear hand protection when working with chemicals." That's dangerous stupidity!

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