A conditional three stars.  We will be asking a lot from this bench; it will be exposed to the elements all four New York seasons, and I have no knowledge of how eucalyptus wood deals with exposure (and what the hell is "Baltic Eucalyptus anyway?).

The bench arrives intact and on time, and it makes a good first impression; the wood is fairly heavy, slightly less dense than cherrywood, say.  One real problem was that the screw holes to hold the seat in place didn't align, which meant that I had to redrill.  I went ahead and added some coated deck screws to each side, and it feels rock solid.  I also gave it a coat of tung oil, for some reason; I was afraid to attempt a spar varnish finish on wood that will have to flex.  So, we shall see how well the bench endures the out doors.