Slippery when dry

Cabot should be a quality product, but this was not. Applied to my decks front and back allowed to dry for 48 hours. Deck is slippery when dry. This could cause an unexpected accident waiting to happen. I would not recommend this product.I will end up spending more time stripping this wax off and applying another product from a different reputable company...

Cabot Clear isn't really clear!!!!

I own a painting company & the home owner wanted something to protect his wood on his decks and building but didn't want it to change colors, well needless to say when I opened the can it had a yellow tint & when I applied it it darkened the wood then when it dried it left the boards tinted a different color. The customer was very unsatisfied & so was I. I have used Cabot since I have been in business & now it will not be my go to stain. Cabot why put clear when it's not clear & it changes the tint of the wood????

Disappointed

I thought I was spending a little more for a quality product, but I was disappointed. First, it says it's clear yet when I put it on Cedar shake shingles it turned them from the nice red color to an orange hue. I wanted the sealer to really sink in so I submerged the cedar shingles in the 5 gal. bucket for about 20 min., then brushed off the excess and hung them to dry. It seemed to work good but after only 1 year (wooded mountain location) they seemed to be bleached out with a light haze and no longer colorful. I am going to try refinishing them with marine spar varnish and hope for better luck.

Don't buy this!!!!

I'm a remodeling contractor and have used Cabot for many different wood/deck projects. This purchase from Lowes 2 days ago (about $50 for 1 gallon) was the absolute worst. Clear Wood Protector - nope. The liquid is mustard yellow, my boards are pine (see pics), and after 24 hour dry time, my boards are still yellow, not clear. The wood is still soft to the point that I can make an indent with my fingernails. I drizzled a tiny bit of water on the end of one board and it did bead off. However, there is absolutely no way I would allow anyone to walk on a deck treated like this. Cabot, what happened??

So Disappointed by Cabot@@

I'm a contractor and I usually love Cabot products but something really went wrong with the "Clear Wood Protector:" I bought it from Lowe's 2 days ago, about $50 for 1 gallon. Opened it up and it looked like mustard. Sometimes you put on sealers or protectors that have color and then they dry clear. Not this one. It is oily and does penetrate quickly, but after 24 hour dry time the wood still soaks up water. It says 1 coat, I haven't tried a 2nd yet, I want to resand my entire project and use my other standby. Again, this is the first time Cabot has failed me. Maybe a bad batch this time?

A little more life for old chairs.

I purchased this to put on 4 little bird houses so there was most of it left over when my neighbor gave me these chairs. Since the chairs had seen better days and were about done anyway I did a little experiment. The first chair to the right has nothing on it. The next chair one coat, next 2, last 3 coats. The instructions say only one coat is needed for decks but these chairs needed more. By the third coat not nearly as much product was soaking into the wood. I also like the color change.

Not Clear Finish As Advertised

Purchased the product based on reading reviews that stated that it dried clear. Did a sample board on my cedar fence and it dried to a light to dark yellow color over the once multi-colored board. Had to sand it off and end up using teak oil to achieve desired results. Unfortunately, now I am stuck with a 5 gallon containet of sealant that I have no use for.

TERRIBLE

Bought this 5 gallonCLEAR cabot Waterproof.Laugh able. Opened it looked like milk. Stired it for 3 minutes. Put some on my hand washed it off with cold water. NO sealant in this at all. Even the 7 inch strip I applied this to Is just wet .

Great product

I put this on my deck. Works great but the South Carolina sun challenges it. However the product wins with showing some wear and tear. I don’t think you can stop that. However the UV protection is good. I still have to apply yearly. Cleanup is easy and application is simple. If you have a wood surface exposed to tough sun, this goes a long way to keeping things looking good.

Awful

I purchase this product about a month ago to seal my deck and it's terrible! It completely did not do what it needed to or go on like it needed to. I put the search this like I was supposed to, did everything by instruction, and yet it does not protect my deck from water. As a matter of fact, it's as if I didn't apply it at all. And if I have to apply it again, then one coat it is not.

Terrible product

I wish I had read these reviews before I purchased. Applied the clear. Deck is dangerously slippery. Walk on the deck in socks or shoes you transfer residue to your interior floors. Interior floors are like an ice skating rink. Too soon to know if permanent damage to interior floors.

Beware! Slippery

I agree with all the reviews about the deck being slippery! I wish I had read before using this product on a brand new deck. All of the directions were followed precisely but the deck is slippery. With all the issues I have read it definitely has to be the product not us the customer! Now I’m stuck with a brand new deck you can’t utilize. Thanks Cabot. Don’t tell me to reach out because there is nothing you can do at this point short of building me a new deck and we know the company is not going to do that!

Hope it works but...

I have used other color and loved it but the reason why it has two stars is because clear means no color like water. Not sure what Quality, managers, CEO, etc thought clear meant. This is yellowish/gold, now my wife said it looks like egg color and I am going to spend another $50 on a brownish color because she was expecting it to be CLEAR and natural wood color not yellowish wood color. I thought it would be OK but happy wife happy life.

Excellent for fences and decks

We've used this to weatherproof our fence and now our deck. The fence we did the years ago and again this year. I like that this product can be applied even if the would is a little damp and once it dries, the water just beads up to slide off. Because it's clear, it enhances the natural would grain without staining it. We applied with a pump garden/weed sprayer.

Just as expected,

We installed a roughsawn cedar fence. We wanted to seal it before the cedar greyed from being in the sun. This product did darken the wood as I would expect as all protectors do this. If it were clear, it would not have the uv protection properties. Easy to apply, and dries quickly. Several weeks have past and cedar still has red tone to it. Very nice. Now to see how long it will last. When should I recoat?

So far, so good

Went on easy. A little thinner than I was expecting, but no problems. Dried in about an hour to touch. I followed all direction. Now it's up to time to tell how it does with the weather. I am adding pictures so that you can see that there is a bit of yellowing on a white part of my board (comes out of can yellow so you can see where you put it). Once dry it went to a lite tan color. For me this was no big deal and didn't upset my project. So perhaps if color is a big deal for you, you should try it out in a small spot first. I used cedar boards and it just looks natural, so no worries.

Cabot Wood Protector Clear Exterior

I read lots of positive reviews as well as the negative ones. For me, the preservative was excellent. Easy to apply and made my faded wolmanized wood look so much better. I do want to not that this preservative is NOT clear. It's a yellowish color straight out of the can and several folks complained about that. For me, it worked in my favor as the color outcome of the deck wood is fantastic.

Slippery even when it isn’t wet!

In August, 2021, we had our decks replaced. In spring/summer of 2022, once the wood had cured, we applied this product to seal the new deck boards. On the positive side, water does bead nicely. On the negative side, our deck is very slippery whether it’s wet or dry. If we walk barefoot on the deck and then come inside, the product seems to be transferring onto our wood floors and they also become slippery.At this point we just want to get it removed. What a waste of many hours and money!

Danger - Inside Icerink

I wanted to love this so much. I'm actually very happy with the color. Application was pretty easy. Smell completely tolerable. However, other reviewers are correct that the residue left over has made the inside of my home - my hardwood floors - an ice rink. I called customer service and they said to use a degreaser to clean the deck like Simply Green. Well I've done that twice now, both to my deck and to my floors (well, I've scrubbed by floors on my hands and knees 3 times). It's been through rain, through washing and scrubbing with even higher concentrations, and no luck. Someone is going to break an arm or worse. My dog is constantly skating and everyone has to wear shoes or be barefoot; if you're wearing socks, you're going down.

Every deck shouldn't look this bad (test on scrap)

I understand that when applying a finish to wood that it will darken with a slight yellow however this product has a yellow pigment in it. I applied this to a cedar bench and found out the hard way that my beautiful eastern red cedar is now a cabot yellow orange cedar. Needless to say I need to strip it. Going to use Rubio hybrid pure this time and every time. The image is an indoor cedar bench finished with rubio pure on the left and outdoor cedar bench finished with cabot clear on the right. The cedar came from the same tree. Rubio for the win.