Preston Andreas wrote:

With a spar urethane, you would have cracking and flaking of the finish in
a
year or two requiring sanding and refinishing. I would use a premium deck

Bigtime. I used that minwhacks spar urethane stuff on a mystery wood park
bench. Looked really beautiful. For about two years...

I sanded it out, but did not completely strip it. I roughed up the finish a
bit with various grades of steel wool and built up a new finish one thin
coat at a time over a couple of weeks until I had poly'ed the hell out of
it.

Looked really beautiful. For about two years...

Now it looks like utter hell. Cracking, flaking, and lots of discoloration.

I think I'm going to sand it and paint it, or else strip it entirely and
throw some Thompson's on it periodically.

After what I've been through trying to keep this bench looking like new, I
think if I had an oak swing I'd be tempted to do absolutely nothing to it
at all. I have a glider with oak slats that's starting to get quite a lot
of lichen building up on it, but it still holds weight after 15 years of
raw exposure to the elements. I expect I'll have to rebuild it soon, but
15 years is not unreasonable. Dead trees outside are meant to rot after
all. That's where dirt comes from.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
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