Having recently purchased a garden bench we thought it was best to treat the wood prior to leaving it outside over the next few summer months. After much deliberation in our local Homebase store my partner and I decided to go with a well known and trusted brand, hence purchasing this Cuprinol Timber care in a 5-litre tub. We paid £9.98 for this size tub, which was on a similar par to other makes available on the day. It was more expensive than Homebase own make however we did expect this to be the case as Cuprinol is a branded product.
Despite this product being recommended for sheds and fences, we were advised it would be perfectly suitable for our use for a picnic bench.

The wood on the bench was completely natural and untreated so we were able to choose any colour we wished, with no worry of having to cover over a previous colour stain. In the end we settled on the Autumn Gold variant within the Cuprinol timber care range. This is a light and golden yellowy gold colour, almost very light orange. Within the range there was also woodland green, rich oak, autumn red and rustic brown coloured stains to choose from.

This stain comes in a plastic tub no different to other paints and stains, with a plastic pull off lid to access the stain.
The stain comes in a large 5 litre tub which stated that it contained enough of the stain to cover 6 fence panels sized 6' x 5' with one coat. Now at first I didn't think this sounded like a lot but as soon as I opened the tub it was full to the brim and I would imagine it would probably go a bit further than this. For our purposes there was plenty to get the job done!

I found that the stain was of quite a thin consistency and quickly ran from the brush if I didn't move it to the bench in time. When applying to the wood it did however give an even finish, not appearing patchy at all. It applied with great ease and I found that I soon had finished one coat.
I found that after applying one coat, you could still see the natural wood underneath and it did need a second coat once it was dry. Perhaps I hadn't applied enough on the brush during the first coat, but I wasn't expecting to have to give it a second coat!
The first coat dried very quickly within an hour, however it was a very hot day that I stained the bench which no doubt would have helped speed the process along. The tub states to allow around 2-4 hours for a coat to dry, so this was very quick. As I was using this product outside I didn't need to worry, but it is recommended that you use in a well-ventilated area and it is not suitable for any interior use. You should also not use if it is likely to rain - I thought this was fairly obvious but I guess people still need the warning information!

Overall I was very happy with the end result from this product. After applying two coats to our bench we achieved the desired result, and the bench looks great. We have even had friends comment on how nice it looks. I would say that the colour of the stain is slightly different to the colour indicated on the front of the tub. This is only very slight, but I found it noticeable. For value for money I would recommend this stain, it did the job well and there is plenty left over to stain again next year if the bench becomes faded and dull by the sun.

This review may also appear on Ciao under the same name.