To paint or not, wooden garden furniture

twopenny

Apologies if this is the wrong forum but nothing came up in a search and it seemed the most likely place to get this advice.

I have an old, much loved wooden bench that I painted with waterbased garden furniture varnish. Looked good for 3 yrs with a top up. The wet however seems to have got under the varnish, and mould in places under the varnish. It's now all scraped cleanish and the wood is fine.

I'm wondering if garden/fence coloured paint will give the same problem. I've seen verdigris on painted fences and my painted compost heap. That was easily dealt with.

So would I get the verdigris under this garden paint on a hardwood bench? Or should I oil it? Or should I leave the bare wood which is now hardened and bleached?

Justagardener

It's a matter of your personal taste i suppose. For me..wood needs to breathe and move which is why painted wood cracks. People think paint protects the wood but all it does is harbour dampness which creates rot. 
Natural bleached grey, with a coat of oil once a year is my favourite. Spray with sodium percarbonate in spring to kill the green tinge after winter. 

DiggerUK

I'm with the above suggestion of oil. 

Teak oil turns it dark, danish oil needs doing twice a year, linseed oil worries me because it can irritate the eyes and vegetable oil takes a while to dry in. 

But they are all good..._

Justagardener

I'm with the above suggestion of oil. 

Teak oil turns it dark, danish oil needs doing twice a year, linseed oil worries me because it can irritate the eyes and vegetable oil takes a while to dry in. 

My chopping board gets olive oil guessing that would get expensive on a bench

Ted_Head

Tung oil will give a great finish.

Justagardener

Tung oil

Nice suggestion

Ted_Head

You need to do several layers - build it up.

twopenny

Thank you for your thoughts and experience. Yes, I like natural and the pale bleached wood, did look good in my previous large  garden.

I was considering painting because now I have a very small garden and  I was thinking a purple slate grey to make it less dominant  Struggling to keep the focus in it right

I think I'll leave it be for now and see how it goes but the detail here is something I couldn't find elsewhere so very grateful.

NB Just a gardener, you can use olive oil on the black sort of car door handles and mirrors that have gone grey. Brings them up like new