Painting a Garden Bench

Aeneas

I bought a garden bench about five years ago. It was softwood -pine, I think - covered with some kind of varnish. I didn't like the yellow/orange colour so painted it a sage green concocted from a mixture of colours and paint types that I had around - silk vinyl, satin, oil eggshell etc. Not suprisingly, given the lack of preparation and amateur paint mixture, time and weather have had their effect and the bench is now flaking and needs a thorough job done on it. The wood is sound if a little damp. I have scraped and sanded off the loose paint, mainly on the seat and back, and the bench is in my shed drying out. I was thinking of the following - a coat of wood preservative, then Dulux Weathershield Primer, then two coats of exterior oil-based undercoat, finally two coats of oil-based gloss probably mixed from the Dulux range as close to my sage colour as possible. Questions are
1. if I use a primer do I need to use a preservative as well?
2. should I use an oil based undercoat of would an acrylic "primer, sealer undercoat" work just as well?
3. the gloss finish would give me a shiny bench. I would prefer a matt finish but most manufacturers seem to recommend gloss for outdoors. Are there alternatives?
All advice welcome.

Stirling

Not willing to take away from your suggestion but have a set of benches out in Seaside conditions (extra salt so wood doesn't normally last jigtime, as we say in Kerry!) snd mine are absolutelt perfect - used Sadolin exterior and nothing else. They look the business and are lasting perfectly so why complicate things!

Aeneas

Stirling wrote: »

Not willing to take away from your suggestion but have a set of benches out in Seaside conditions (extra salt so wood doesn't normally last jigtime, as we say in Kerry!) snd mine are absolutelt perfect - used Sadolin exterior and nothing else. They look the business and are lasting perfectly so why complicate things!

I see what you mean. What I'm planning is a bit of fuss and bother. I live about one hundred yards from the sea and untreated wood deteriorates quickly. But having already put a colour on the bench, and other garden furniture, I need to stick with it. I think Sadolin is a clear varnish and therefore probably would not suit, unless I put it on over the paint. But then I probably would not need to do that if I get a good oil based paint.

Drakus

I have just done my bench. The first thing I did was to take the whole thing apart, it made the job much easier. I then using a hand sander sanded the various pieces finishing with a light sanding by hand. I use a good Matt varnish, no shines finish. I put about 6 coats of varnish on but very light coats giving the wood a light sanding in between coats. Whatever way you go I would recommend taking the bench apart, makes the job much easier and you can also treat any screws/bolts or replace them. All the best.