On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:32:35 -0500, sal wrote:

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

Cedar, teak, or cypress. Cedar is a little too soft, and teak is a lot
too expensive. That leaves cypress as the only easily found (AFAIK)
choice.

No finish holds up to UV from the sun or to repeated wet/dry cycles. The
best advice I can give is a couple of coats of SealCoat (more on end
grain) followed an outdoor UV-resistant varnish.

It would help if you sealed the end grain at the bottom of the legs with
epoxy, or metal booties, or something similar. Anything that keeps them
away from moisture.

Good luck.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw