Refinishing Slat bench  

What your intended final finish?
It would help to know what's on there now so you don't end up with compatibility issues. I wouldn't try to strip the entire bench or attempt disassembly of the slatted top, but simply scuff-sand the accessible surfaces, clean up w/ mineral spirits, and use either a spray or wipe-on finish.
If the joint between the legs and the cross-battens are loose, it's probably because the holes that receive the metal dowel screws are stripped out. If so, the easiest good fix might be to remove the existing screws, re-bore the pilot holes, and replace the screws with new ones of a larger diameter.
If the battens come off easily, it seems like replacing them with the appropriate hardwood might be easy enough, too.
It might help if you could provide a pic of a leg removed to show how it is currently fastened to the batten.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2001694/2001694.aspx

I honestly like the color it...
I honestly like the color it is now I just see some spots where they maybe tried to match with stain, some white paint and just some gerneral roughness into the wood that could be sanded down. The dowels that hold it together are really sturdy. Maybe just oiling it will do the trick?
The Batten is what I would want to replace as the legs and the dowel screws are in good condition. The batten just seems like it may not be original to the piece and doesn't seem to be hard wood like the rest of the bench. I have attached pictures of the batten and the legs. Thank you again for your help tktoo.

Huh. That fastener looks like
a threaded hanger with a machine threaded end rather than a dowel screw. It also apears that there are metal inserts in the battens to recieve them and that the battens are fastened to the slatted top with nails(!)
Where is the loose connection? Between the battens and the top, the legs and the battens, or both?
Will the battens come off easily?
Where are you located?

The typical connection
is a hangar bolt in the leg, and a T-nut buried in the batten. The hangar bolt has a wood thread on one end and a machine thread to engage the T-nut on the other. That's what we see here, I believe.
It looks like the cross-dowel keeps the slats together, with the batten added for the leg attachment. I suspect the batten isn't glued; if not, removing it should be fairly easy. Place something hard and flat (the blade of a handsaw ?) on the slats near the batten, to protect the slats, and use a thin pry-bar to loosen the batten all around. Continue this until the piece is removed. The T-nuts can be re-used or replaced -- many hardware stores seem have a small supply of the common sizes. These might be 5/16" or 3/8" ones. Take a leg with you. Installation of the T-nut requires a two-step hole -- the flange of the nut being buried behind the batten is crucial for the strength and permanence of the connection.
If you get one batten removed and see nothing wrong with it, the piece can be reattached with screws and glue for a better job.
It might be possible to dress just the tops of the slats with new finish ? Any sanding is going to remove stain and reveal raw wood, I should think -- so think twice about that.

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I would avoid re finihsing the slats unless you have too, it doesn't look necessary and would be an irritating job....but the real reason I'm posting a reply is to whinge, is anyone else getting a pop up ad that fills the whole screen whenever they come onto DA? I'm using IE on someone elses machine so that might explain it.
But is is a nice bench.

The battens are just nailed o...
The battens are just nailed on there and will come off easily as the nails are loose. The dowels are very sturdy and not loose by any means. The connection thats loose is the battens attaching to the to the top. The main concern is the wood for the batten is just falling apart and looks like someone did a quick fix as it's a soft wood compared to the actual slats. I'm located in Boston, MA.
SDR thank you for the instructions, The slats are kept together with 3 dowels and are super sturdy and connected by just some old nails. I'm going to have to take a leg to the hardware store tomorrow and see what I can do. I do however really want to find some wood that will replicate the type of wood of the slats so it may take me a little bit.
I don't think I'm going to refinish these any more, just seems like too much work for something that really is unnecessary. I'm thinking oiling up the wood is the right way to go now.

Cody, I'm 35 miles from you.
If you don't have the tools or materials, I could knock off a couple of replacement battens for you from scrap in my shop gratis. Could even meet you somewhere halfway for delivery.

If that works out,
the procedure might be for Cody to remove the battens, see if the T-nuts are OK (hard to imagine how they might fail), measure them for diameter(s), and transmit that info so that tktoo can mill for them. A photo of the back of the batten would be helpful, presumably.
I see that one batten isn't even fastened perfectly straight. I wonder what would have caused them to be replaced -- if that's what happened. The legs and the slat bed seem perfectly professional . . .

Just a heads up
for anyone reading this in the future--shellac was mentioned upthread as a possible finish for this bench. While it's great for some things, I don't think it's very good for a seat of any kind. If you are the least bit sweaty and you sit on it for more than a minute, you'll stick to the finish and it'll get clouded up. True fact.

TKToo
Hey TKtoo,
Shoot me an email, vintiquesco@gmail.com, I think I'm going to take you up on that offer!

How does somebody that goes by "spanky"
end up with a sweaty backside, anyway?
You're right, though. Shellac could still be used as an intermediate layer to help prevent compatibiity problems, but thanks for pointing out that some shellacs are too sensitive to moisture to be good choices for finishing a seat. Good catch! I'll go back and edit that out.

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Have you been able to identify the original finish? If its oiled you can wash the whole thing down with sugar soap, rinse (it will look horrible at this stage but dont worry) and reapply teak oil. It will come up a treat. You mention in your other thread that its Danish - are you sure? Is it marked? Seems a bit rough & ready (the nails especially) to be a commercially produced thing?

There are no markings but...
There are no markings but the owner of it told me it was her grandmothers and they bought it in the early 60's. She mentioned it was danish. I know she could be wrong but the person I bought it from was not into that type of furniture and just happened to have it in her "shabby chic" house. SO it may not be danish. I do want to figure out what kind of wood it is however be cause i like your cleaning technique.

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I learnt that technique from Simon at the Danish Homestore on this very forum - some years ago now but you should be able to find his full description if you do a search!