Michael Yadfar
01-18-2016, 11:50 AM
I haven't done a whole lot of finishing on my life, but have used stain, Danish oil, polyurethane, and wax before (obviously not in the same project). As my first major project in my own personal shop, I've built a coffee table out of black walnut and hard maple. The table is almost complete so I'm looking to move into finishing soon.
I don't think staining makes sense since Walnut is a beautiful wood the way it is, and while maple isn't, the light contrast is my goal. This is going to be a regularly used living room coffee table, so I do want a heavy duty top coat, so I probably will use polyurethane. My question though is should I do anything under the poly to enhance the wood, or will it look good straight on?
I don't think staining makes sense since Walnut is a beautiful wood the way it is, and while maple isn't, the light contrast is my goal. This is going to be a regularly used living room coffee table, so I do want a heavy duty top coat, so I probably will use polyurethane. My question though is should I do anything under the poly to enhance the wood, or will it look good straight on?