I'm building a bench that will live in my back yard, and I'm wondering what kind of finish I should use, if any. The bench is made of western red cedar, with white oak legs.
Realistically speaking, I'm not going to sand and re-finish the whole bench on a regular basis. I've seen videos of people doing that, and there's just no way it's going to happen. Well, to be more precise, if the finish were easy to apply, I could imagine putting on a new coat yearly. It's the sanding that I don't want to do. I could imagine sanding or hand-planing the top, but not the whole thing.
I'm looking for finishing recommendations, given my laziness. Or should I not even bother? I can accept that the bench will slowly be worn down by the elements, but if I can slow it down with minimal effort, that's what I'm looking for.