Thread: oily beech garden bench

I'm building a garden bench in white beech, which has a distinct oily finish. It will be subject to the full outside weather of sub-tropical coastal northern NSW, so lots of hot sun and moisture along with lichens, fungi, mould etc. I want to finish it rather than leave it raw, and favour an oil finish. So I'd value advice on (1) whether I need to wash the sanded beech with metho before finishing (I did this before glue up with poly), and (2) which oil finish products are most suitable to use for these conditions. I fully expect to have to refinish every year or so depending. Thanks Charlie