I suggest that you make your own out of 3/4 ply and 2 x 4's. Quick, easy, and cheap. I got my wheels from HF for the Griz 17 extreme BS. Works great. Use the savings to buy toys, er I mean tools.

Yup, you can get some alligator skin effect. You want shellac thin. If your using amber or garnet shellac and get the coat too thick, it can be problematic to thin it down as you will get color variations that are hard to fix.

Hard to get too thick by padding, but not so hard when spraying or brushing.

You can go back to the littler gullets and file with an emphasis either to the left or to the right (as needed) to make the resulting pattern a little more uniform. It's an iterative job but it is possible to recover.

Minwax oil stains.Many colors to choose from.

The one I used was called Early American and they came out great. I used on floors, doors, and woodwork trim.

No responses, so I sent an e-mail to Curtis Buchanan and got a response this morning. I guess I should have checked Highland Hardware. Here's the answer if anyone's interested:

Highland

Steve

IME you need both high durability and chemical resistance. Likely the best non-exoic finish for this is GF Arm-R-Seal, but there are two things: some folks find it hard to apply even though it is a wipe on, the other thing is that it is slow curing and stinky until cured. IMHO your best choice is GF EnduroVar. It's a easy to use waterborne and as long a it's applied >60F and allowed to cure for 72 hours before use it is fool proof.

Can't you melt the pieces in a double boiler and recast them into one piece again?

NO, get some WO, Ash, or other hardwood with some ability to sustain an attack of it's joints. Really any cedar would be to light.

Say where you live, could be someone will know where you can buy solid posts for the framework of a decent wood for a bench. Tops can be soft, legs need to be able to take the beating.

I'd use GF EnduroVar because of the chemical resistance, the light amber tint will be a plus in this application. Its a waterborne so: water cleanup, self leveling, 30—45 minutes to recoat, spray, foam brush or wipe. Refinish ~5 years by cleaning with a pressure washer and then recoating. Drawback is that it needs to cure for 72 hours at >60°F before use. Crystalac PolyOx is similar but lacks the amber tint and is not quite as chemical resistant.

Duke,

Stuart Adams and Sons Hardwoods, 1501 South Buffalo Street, Canton, TX is the closest hardwood dealer to Tyler. I am also sending you a PM regarding our woodworking club in Tyler.

Roger Davis in Tyler, TX