How should I finish this bench?

John Fraser

John Fraser

Well-known member
A bench has been “on my workbench” since June. It’s ready for some light sanding and finishing. I’m looking for your suggestions on what finish to use; just polyurethane, stain and poly, brand names, etc. The top is white ash and the legs are peeled beaver sticks. I thought that stain may highlight the teeth marks in the legs. However not all of the legs are peeled down to pure wood, so I’m not sure how a stain would react in those areas. I’m also looking for the best way to seal/protect the end grain on the bottom of the legs, as this bench will be outside in the summer.

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Here's Ben and Ethan with the tree that we got the top board from.

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Here's Conall on a Boy Scout canoe trip along the old Erie Canal helping me collect the material for the legs.

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Here's a shaving horse I picked up in June for making decoys. It worked well for dowelling the ends on the legs.

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I would not use poly, if you have some scraps around try some tung oil or watco and see how it reacts with each wood. I like this finish partly because the more layers the harder the finish and it is really easy to touch up if the bench gets some hard wear.
 
Thanks Shawn and Eric. For exterior use it looks like the Waterlox has a sealer and then a finish (like spar varnish). Would you use both products or just the sealer?
 
Shawn

I didn't catch the outdoor application. Good suggestion on the Marine versions.

There is an old hardware store close to my workshop that I frequently go to for shop supplies. About 5 years ago while strolling through the haphazard paint section I spotted Waterlox in quart cans, about 15. They must have been 20+ years old because the labels were faded and looked different than today's. I bought a can and took it home and opened it. Good as the day it was filled. Waterlox gels when exposed to air so I made sure that hadn't happened. I went back and bought every can. If you notice it is nearly $27 a quart on their website. I paid a whopping $7 per can. I dread the day I run out.
 
I have always liked tung oil for wood that has enough character and does not need the help of stain. I refinished my father's Remington model 700 with tung oil and it really turned out nice. Best part is when it gets a blemish from hard hunting it is very easy to touch up.
 
I ordered this product last night:

http://www.realmilkpaint.com/products/oils/half-tung-oil-half-citrus-solvent/

It's good for exterior use, the price was decent, and it should be easy to touch up from year to year. I went with the 50:50 pre-mixed versus their straight tung oil because they said that you may have to cut the tung oil in order to get good penetration.

Everything I read about the Waterlox was positive. However a quart of their tung oil plus a quart of their spar varnish would have come to about $70. Also, I believe that I'd have to remove the spar varnish whenever I wanted to refinish it.
 
To protect the end grain on the bottoms of the legs, I'm thinking of tracing and fastening a disk of 5/4 pressure treated decking on the bottom of each leg. May not look as pretty, but I think most people won't really pay much attention to the bottom 1" of the legs. I just don't see how any finish will hold up against the ground like that.
 
Looks great John I really like the dark grain on the top. If anyone looks that hard at the bottom of the legs tell them to find another bench to plant their backside on.
 
Nice looking bench for sure. The contrasting grain is really an eye catcher. It would seem that an added benefit of the 5/4 treated leg caps is that you should be able to easily replace them if they do start to deteriorate and keep the integrity of the leg itself intact.
 
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