I have some boards that will be installed horizontally on a fence I'm constructing and I'll be pre-staining these boards before the installation/construction with some oil base fence/deck stain. It's semi-transparent SuperDeck brand and has a “linseed and tung oil formulation” and is the type of stain which of course requires mineral spirits for cleanup because of the oil base. I'll be staining the boards outdoors but under a big covered area where they at least won't getting rained on. Can't do the staining indoors anywhere; will need to be done outside. Because the forecast here is mostly damp/rain for the next ten days or so, and temperatures aren't all that warm either (in the 50's) and rather high humidity etc this will considerably prolong the drying time of the stain on the boards boards, and I'd rather not have to wait too excessively long for the stain to dry before installation/construction. I've never used Japan drier before but have heard of it helping to speed up drying time for oil-based coatings, and was wondering if it would be of much benefit to add some to the stain before I apply it to this particular type of stain. Maybe adding such could help the stain dry adequately in at least a day or two outside in the type of weather I described in a day or two instead of maybe quite a bit longer. Any comments appreciated.

I'm not into doing decks but was forced to because a contractor decided to throw in 19 posts on a deck at 20 inches when our local frost line is 30 inches. He had to be fired 3/4 of the way through the job after I found out what he was doing and my friend and I finished the deck and redid the footings. It looks beautiful, but what makes me nervous are the concrete piers we did and their look. What's done is done but I did a search on the web and could really find nothing "concrete". Hopefully this will help someone that experiences the same issues. - Concrete footers were bored at around 8 inches in diameter and 32-34 inches down. Starting about 12 inches down we knocked the sides in and likely made the diameter of the hole 10 inches than belled out the bottoms as best as we could. - Used sonotube about 6-10 inches down but poured straight into the hole otherwise with the hole being our "form" - Each hole required between 3.5 to 4 bags of concrete mix to fill. - We poked a stick around in the holes to help with air during the pour. - No rebar was used in the piers Included are some pictures but we clearly had a honeycombing issue on the piers. Granted I’ve heard this may be more asthetics than anything and can reduce the piers bearing load but I’m just trying to figure out are we screwed come winter and this creates a heaving issue? Assuming it’s honeycombed all the way down? What other problems does this create? Additional Information: Deck is free floating 16x14 built on ground level with 2x6 joists with a 12x12 bump up built with 2x8. 13 piers on the 16x14 and 6 on the 12x12. Soil is literally all clay. [ATTACH]82938[/ATTACH]