Experts,

I'm rebuilding the corniced eave at the top of the front elevation on my wife's 1850 house (it was ripped of 1n '83 due to the Yankee gutter decomposing.)

It's turning out great...the coppersmiths just last week bed the whole thing in w/ 16 gauge cold-rolled copper; & just this week the millworking shop fabricated me 8 beautiful cornice brackets from Spanish cedar.

Now...the first issue is...my wife wants to prime them prior to installation. The cedar institute recommends that the wood (WRC) be "acclimatized" first...which I think means installed & sitting for a while prior to priming.

The second issue is what type of primer to apply. The entire rest of the house is 1" X 6" beveled cedar clapboard; & two years ago, the local lumber yard recommended MAB Seashore oil base primer. I started priming...& the primer was so thick it was like trying to paint a fence w/ crude oil...it felt like this heavy mass was just riding over the surface of the wood. So I cut it moderately thin with mineral spirits; & it seemed to soak in & stick. I covered it w/ a latex exterior.

A year later, the paint was peeling off in fairly large areas.

So...what should I do:

A) Should we prime them (the cedar brackets) first & then install?

B) Should I forget alkyd base primer & use water base primer...so that if I have to cut it to get a nice, even flowing application, I'll be cutting it w/ water, which will be safer than cutting oil base w/ turpentine?

C) Is there any kind of primer on the market that goes on even & soaks into the wood?

D) Should I let my wife hit them once with Woodlife or Thompson's Water Seal; & is that acceptable w/ cedar.

Could use some direction.

Thanks,

mark4man