Suggestions for finishing Oak

[Josh Gerber]

I'm getting closer to finishing a toy box made of oak. I'm new to all of this and have little experience finishing wood. I like the grain in oak but am not a fan of the golden oak. Which I assume is just poly. My sons furniture is dark cherry so I considered staining it a dark cherry color. I see a lot of people on here use BOL but that mostly on cherry. Target Finishes seems to be popular with the spraying crowd. Which could be an option I have a compressor. I already have entirely too much money in this thing because I bought BORG wood. Plus mistakes, and tools, and you guys know how it goes when you are first starting out. So the last thing I want to do is ruin it with a bad finish. I'm open to any and all opinions because the truth is I don't know what I want. Or where to start. Do I finish and then assemble or the other way around? Please help me.

[Prashun Patel]

Oak takes stain pretty well. If you want to color it, then I'd just use a garden variety stain from BORG on that. The trick is to sand it very well and evenly in the 150-180 grit range. Wet it with Mineral spirits to find all scratches and work them out. Then you'll get a decent finish.

How big's the box. If it's smaller than a breadbox, then I'd consider a rattlecan finish like Deft or even polyurethane (prepare to be flamed on).

If it's bigger, then a wiping varnish might be the easiest route.

[Josh Gerber]

Thanks Shawn. The box is 25"H x 42"Wx22.5"D

[Prashun Patel]

Too big IMHO for a rattle can. Unless you use about 4-5 of them.

[Scott Holmes]

This is one of the few times I will say poly is a good choice... I did one years ago for my 4 sons and I used poly; because I knew it would be WALKED on etc.

Actually walking on it was the mild stuff it had to endure.