re: Outdoor Finish

I wouldn’t touch a project like that with any of the cheap poly finishes. They are surface coats and will expand and contract at different rates than will the wood and will fail.

At first, you’ll get cracks in the surface, then water will seep in through the cracks and be held in by the finish, causing it to decay even quicker.

Then there is the refurbish issue. As you probably know, stripping poly to put on a new coat is no fun.

I’m a fan of non-hardening oils, aggressively applied. It replaces lost moisture, but, unlike water, doesn’t evaporate. Instead, it wicks in. As such, applications are cumulative.

If you can get some good penetration with the oil early on, it gets even easier to maintain the project. After all, applications don’t require sanding or stripping.

I’m experimenting with an old formula and I suspect it might hold up fairly well. It’s just turpentine, boiled linseed oil and pine tar. The latter can be gotten anywhere they sell supplies for caring for horses. A quart runs about ten near me.

I want to see how it does, since pine tar has been used to seal ships and boats for ages. The stuff I’ve applied hardens and can be sat on.