re: Lets Talk "oil finishes"

I remember a long term test comparison with various types of other outdoor finishes in an article in Fine Woodworking mag. They found marine varnishes with UV protection to be the best, most long lasting outdoor finish. I am personally against any type of film finish for the outdoors for the reasons stated by Charles. I have used a outdoor film varnish with Tung oil which is very popular here in Norway ‘Benar olje’. It looks wonderful for two or three years on outside doors, but you have to sand to renew and that is not fun, especially because of it being more elastic than indoor film finishes so that the sand paper becomes clogged very easy.