Staining a wooden swing set

sand it to open up the grain and make it smooth.
THen stain, fine sand 220 grit or finer, then apply polyurethane or spar varnish

you could use poly shades by min wax

are you sure this is not treated wood? if so stain is not the route to go

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Do you need to sand it down first or just put stain right on top of the old ???

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it likely has some old varnish or sealer that was applied over the old stain...if that is the case, you would need to sand first to remove the sealer or the stain would not penetrate evenly...

ETA: it may not be the look that you are trying to get, but I find that paint works a lot better on things like swings than stain...