Seeking Advice on Staining/painting Wood Swing-set

Check into CABOT. I believe it's available at Ace Hardware stores or local paint retailers. It is also available in tinted wood tone colors. Seems to last and protect the wood. Again, you have to have a few good days of weather. First, power wash the set, let dry for 24 - 48hrs., then treat with product. Hope this helps!
N.-Nutrition Naturally
www.jp4ahealthieryou.com

D.- I'm looking into restaining our deck this summer. We used a semi-solid Cabot stain on the rails & benches & I wanted to let U know our result from a couple years ago. Semi-solids are impossible to remove completely. Ours lasted about 2 years & we have to either stain it again the same color or use a different semi-solid/solid color again. I wish I would have done a transparent stain. You can't see all the chips/nicks when the stain/paint starts to wear away. I think Thompson's is the brand someone had recommended to us. If the wood was already treated though by paint you may have to stick with painting it again. Just make sure you powerwash prior & do it on a day with the right weather conditions.

We also inherited a wood swing set and I was looking at it this year thinking it needs to be treated. We recently built a cedar potting bench and used Behr water-seal stain protectant (from Home Depot) that is holding up very well. The water beads up on the bench and the wood is kept safe. I think we're going to use the same on the swingset since we have 3/4 of a can left.

The trick to using it is that it has to be done when there is no rain for up to 24 hours after and it needs 72 hours to fully dry so the less humid/no rain, the better.

We also inherited a swingset two summers ago, and I cleaned it with Oxi-Clean and water (using the deck cleaning directions). Then we let it dry and used clear Thompson's Water Seal on it. Any outdoor deck or fence type stain is fine, too, if you want a color. I think we'll need to seal it every other year (so this year is the year for us, too!).