what a beautiful well kept swing. I have one similar to yours, but it is left out in the weather. Right now as I type, the swing is going through a major overall. I am having my husband back all the screws out so I can do each individual board separately and make sure I get between the slats, etc. Mine is definitely going to take a lot more work than your beautiful swing. From what you are saying, it sounds like the swing is in really good shape. From what I can see, if it were me I would take one of the soft back sanding sponges from 3m ; the ones that mold and contour to the piece you are working on. I would just break the surface of the finish that is on there now in order for your stain to bite; or I would sand as I mentioned and use Old Masters Spar Marine Varnishes or the gel stains. By the way, I love using General Finishes (arm-r-seal). I don't think you will have any problems or difficulty refinishing your swing.

Tibbrix, I guess you haven't seen these new low voc 'stains'. You are correct that stain doesn't peel, but these new stains are more like a paint, as they're acrylic with very little real oil in the formulation, apparently. Much of the criticism which I have uncovered complains about the peeling of these stains. We had just removed our old cedar decrepit deck - the carpenter bees were having a field day with it. We did some research and found that carpenter bees like PT less than cedar (we hope that's true). So the PT is not a beautiful wood like cedar and we'd like a little deeper color - hence the semi-transparent search. Even the sealer type stuff which is now low VOC is having the same issue with durability. Alas....is there no decent solution to my problem? ;-)

Last summer my neighbor and me each got a new rooftop deck built. We’re on the 3rd floor of a condo building. Yesterday we started staining the deck. We’re using a light-colored stain. This is what the can says (it’s a mouthful): Benjamin Moore Arborcoat Premium Exterior Stain Classic Oil Finish Deck & Siding Semi-transparent We’ve started off with the ballusters, rails and posts, using brushes. When we’re done with this we’ll do the floor. We were hoping to use rollers for the floor. But I’m wondering how will we be able to avoid the stain from dripping between floor wood boards (decking) and giving it a messy look? Is there a trick? Or should we simply avoid rollers and just use a brush? I’m including some photos below. In the first photo there’s already a first coat of stain (but the very top of the railing cap has not yet gotten any stain).

No. If it has hardened or just gelled, it has polymerized/cured and there is no going back. In the future, decant the leftovers into quart cans full to the top, or use Bloxygen (an inert gas that prevents curing/skinning). Casey