Protect from outside...

[Mandy]

My neighbor just found a couple of old wooden theater seats. How can he best protect it from weather? What sort of coating would you recommend?

Chad

[Guess who]

protect it from weather? What sort of coating would

Take them to an antique dealer first for evaluation [and possible advice.] A neighbour of mine was having a yard sale and about to unload a chair for $20. I told him to take it to a dealer. He did, and has been collecting ever since. It was a nursing rocker, worth over $250 at the time. A dealer I know showed me an item hanging on a barn wall after the auction, and said he was going to offer to buy it. He asked what I would do. I said I'd burn it. He said it was a chair [it looked like a pile of sticks] and he could tell me who made it and when. He intended to resell at a very large profit to someone else who I suppose knew the value of a pile of sticks, and who would again resell it at a profit.

[woodworker88]

If they are going to be outside and are not an antique, I would recommend coating them with clear two part epoxy sealer. Woodcraft sells a brand called Mirrorcoat. The two liquids are mixed together, and then the solution hardens to form a hard plastic coating. The only problem is cost: a medium sized kit costs about 30 dollars. However, your application doesn't seem extremely demanding and the coverage can probably be fairly thin. I am working on refinishing a formerly bathroom sink and countertop made entirely out of one solid block of old growth redwood. I am going to place the sink outside as a garden sink, and I am going to use Mirrorcoat to finish wood to protect it from the elements as well as from the water in the sink.