Wood or metal tree bench
Updated: October 2026
You are choosing between a painted solid-wood seat and a black steel ring, and the British winter will sit on whichever you buy. A wood or metal tree bench is that materials decision. Unnamed painted wood is not the RHS path for teak, and the only metal listing in this set is a steel ring with no coating system printed on the page. The listings and prices are on the [tree bench comparison](/hub/trees-and-palms/tree-bench). Diameter maths stays on the how-to, not here. The Products Compared editorial team updated this in October 2026. Care rules come from the RHS, John Lewis and metal-furniture guidance, not from a weathering test of these listings. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You are choosing between a painted solid-wood seat and a black steel ring, and the British winter will sit on whichever you buy. A wood or metal tree bench is that materials decision.
You are choosing between a painted solid-wood seat and a black steel ring, and the British winter will sit on whichever you buy. A wood or metal tree bench is that materials decision. Unnamed painted wood is not the RHS path for teak, and the only metal listing in this set is a steel ring with no coating system printed on the page. The listings and prices are on the tree bench comparison. Diameter maths stays on the how-to, not here. The Products Compared editorial team updated this in October 2026. Care rules come from the RHS, John Lewis and metal-furniture guidance, not from a weathering test of these listings. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Material | Finish | Species named | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Relaxdays Relaxdays 360-degree steel tree bench | Alloy steel, 12 × 12 mm | Black, coating unnamed | Not timber | 8.2 | about £195.90 | View offer |
| Best value |  Generic Generic natural half-round tree bench | Wood | Varnished | Not named | 5.6 | about £175.33 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Gaommini Gaommini half-round slatted tree seat | Wood | Painted | Not named | 4.4 | about £190 | View offer |
On this page
What solid wood does not tell you
Six of the seven listings claim wood. They are Yopappol B0F4XJC9B1, Gaommini B0GR99LTMS, the natural generic B0H3KTKRBX, the generic B0GXJ69QNQ, Hamankim B0GX1K83LY and the curved generic B0HKSG3W1M. The species line on every one of them is blank. Finishes, where the page bothers to name one, are water-based paint, varnish, or a weather-resistant and UV coating. Solid wood means the seller says the parts are wood rather than a pictured print on metal. It does not mean teak, eucalyptus, oak or any other species you could look up a care sheet for.
That gap changes the winter plan. A painted or varnished unknown board can swell, flake and open at the end grain the first time water sits in a joint. You cannot oil it like teak and expect the RHS result, because you do not know whether the film is varnish that oil will not feed, or bare timber that oil might darken. John Lewis notes that oil on teak should go on dry timber, or the surface can blacken. Applying that tip to a varnished import is a guess. Prices in this wood group run from £128.59 to £190, plus the contradictory £357.99 row whose package line says 1 kg. None of those prices buys a named species, and none of the seven listings prints an FSC code, whether 100%, Mix or Recycled.
When named teak or eucalyptus is a different buy
The RHS, in its guide to maintaining garden seats, says oily hardwoods such as teak and eucalyptus can stay outside, with a yearly wash in soapy water. Teak is expected to silver. That is a care path for those timbers, not a blank cheque for every brown slat on amazon.co.uk. If the listing does not name teak or eucalyptus, do not follow the hardwood calendar as if it had. Specialist half-rounds in teak often start around £445 to £500, and full teak rings run from about £695 into the £1,615 range at shops such as Corido. Those are other catalogues. They are the shelves where the species is part of the product name.
Leave these wood rows if you want that path. A yearly wash, a decision about whether to oil or to let the surface silver, and a timber that the RHS is actually talking about, belong with a named hardwood. They do not belong with a water-based paint claim and a missing species. Softwood or an unnamed hardwood under a thin varnish may still survive a sheltered patio if you keep the feet dry and renew the film when it cracks. It will not behave like a teak seat that has been sold for a UK winter on the strength of the timber itself. If the size line is also a 10 cm height or a 40 cm cube, the material question is secondary: you may not have a bench to maintain. That checklist is the tree bench buying guide.
The steel ring in this set
The metal product is Relaxdays B0H514B9N2, at £195.90. It is alloy steel, black, with a stated tube of 12 × 12 mm square section, an inner opening of 70 cm and an outer diameter of 160 cm. The title mentions heart motifs. The page does not say powder coated, galvanised, or painted. Do not add a coating the listing never claimed. What you can say is that it is a steel ring of a named tube size, it needs assembly, and bare steel rusts where the surface is broken.
John Lewis is plain about powder-coated steel garden furniture in general: they will not guarantee that it will not corrode, and they tell you to touch up chips. Bennington’s metal-care notes say the same in practical steps. Check for chips, do not leave the frame standing in water, and deal with bare metal before the orange spread. Those notes are about metal furniture as a class. They are not a review of Relaxdays, and they do not invent a powder coat for a listing that never printed one. A 12 × 12 mm tube is a light garden section. It is not a structural claim you can convert into the 600 kg seller line, and that line is still not an EN 581 test. Choose the steel ring when you want the only 360-degree hole in this set and you will inspect the finish. Choose unnamed wood when you want a half-round and you accept that the species is a mystery. The conditional top pick is on best tree bench.
Covers and winter
A plastic sheet tied tight over a wet bench is how timber and steel both fail. Trapped damp stays in the grain and in the tube joints. The care notes from brands such as Fermob and Cox & Cox, and the Bennington metal guide, point the other way: a breathable cover, or no cover and free air, and no puddle left on the seat. Those brands are not in this set. The rule is still the one to use. Lift the cover on a dry day so the seat can dry. Do not store a wood seat on soil through winter if you can stand the feet on paving, tiles or broad pads. Steel feet in a permanent puddle will mark even if the rest of the ring looks sound.
Wash what you can name. For a hardwood the RHS actually lists, a yearly soapy wash is the baseline, and oil is optional, on dry timber, if you want to slow the silvering. For these painted and varnished amazon.co.uk rows, wash off algae with mild soap, keep abrasives off the film, and renew the finish only with a product that matches a film you can identify. If you cannot tell varnish from paint, do not soak the seat in teak oil. For the steel ring, dry it, look for chips after the first winter, and touch up bare metal if you can confirm what the original coating was. If the page never named a coating, a rust spot is a reason to ask the seller what system was used, not a prompt to assume powder coat. Settle half-round or ring before you buy a tin of anything.
Common questions
Is the wooden tree bench teak?
No. Teak would be named. These six wood listings say solid wood, paint, varnish or a UV coating, and they leave the species blank. A brown varnish, including the Hamankim finish, is a colour, not a species. Specialist teak seats are a different shop and a higher price.
Can I leave painted wood outside all year?
You can, and you should expect the film to work harder than a named oily hardwood. The RHS route of leave it out and wash it yearly is written for teak, eucalyptus and similar timbers. Unnamed painted wood needs you to watch for cracks in the coating and to keep the feet out of standing water.
Will the steel ring rust?
It can, wherever the surface is chipped or was never coated in a way the page described. Relaxdays does not name a powder coat. John Lewis will not guarantee that powder-coated steel garden furniture avoids corrosion, and bare metal needs a touch-up. A 12 × 12 mm tube left in a puddle is the likely starting point.
What does powder coating do if the listing does not say it?
Nothing you can rely on, because it may not be there. Powder coat is a baked finish that slows rust until it is broken. This steel listing never uses the phrase. Treat the ring as steel with an unnamed black finish, and inspect it, rather than borrowing a coating from another brand’s care sheet.
Should I oil the bench?
Only if you know the timber is bare teak or a similar oily hardwood and the surface is dry. John Lewis warns that oil on damp teak can blacken. Do not oil a varnished or painted unknown species as if it were bare teak. Soap and a sound film matter more on these amazon.co.uk wood rows.
Is a plastic cover a good idea?
A sealed plastic sheet over a damp seat is a poor idea. It traps moisture against wood grain and steel joints. A breathable cover, removed so the bench can dry, matches the care notes used here. No cover at all is better than a wet parcel of plastic through a British winter.
Does FSC appear on these listings?
No. FSC UK describes 100%, Mix and Recycled labels, and none of the seven pages prints a code. Do not add one in your own notes. A missing label is not proof of illegal timber. It is proof you were not shown a chain of custody.
Which product in this set is metal?
Only Relaxdays B0H514B9N2, the black alloy-steel ring at £195.90, with 12 × 12 mm square tube. Every other listing here claims wood and names no species. If you want metal and a printed 70 cm inner opening, that is the page. If you want a half-round, you are back in the unnamed wood group.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources from the research digest, last checked on 17 October 2026. Shelf prices and the review line are the amazon.co.uk figures in the display file. Load figures are seller claims, not a test run for this page.
- The English Garden: 10 of the best tree seats (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- Chic Teak: circular tree bench (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- BSI: BS EN 581-1:2017 (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- EN 581-2:2026 scope (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 23 (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- RHS: maintaining garden seats (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- FSC UK: labels (retrieved 17 October 2026)