Our communal garden - a standard feature in Scottish tenement buildings - has been donated a very substantial, but tired, traditional garden bench which I've offered to revive.
The naturally greyed slats have sanded beautifully, revealing a knotless red hardwood which I'm assuming is mahogany, not the oak I first expected. The cast-iron ends are quite ornate (and heavy) and their tatty paint has eventually relented after days of Nitromors, hand- and electric-brushing, and sandpapering, followed by thorough POR15 degreasing.
After luckily spotting some metal primer spray of German origin in the "middle of Lidl" at a bargain price, the ends have now come up nicely after two coats and I'm keen to finish them off in a British Racing Green or something similar.
Looking through the choices of good quality top coat it seems it's pretty limited, basically Hammerite or Ronseal, and I'm tempted again by the aerosol versions due to the detail involved as opposed to brush application.
Has anyone got recommendations for these, or their method of application, or experience they'd like to share? For example, does it matter that some of the options are "direct to metal" when there is already a solid primer base?