Finish - Stepstool

[Charles Wilson]

I am building a could of stepstools out of poplar for my children. What should I finish them with and how should I do it?

Regards,

Chuck

[Art Mulder]

Charles, Are you looking for a paint option, or some other finish?

The first stepstool I show below is Maple + Jatoba. I finished it with 3 coats Circa 1850 Tung-n-Teak oil, followed by some wax buffed in. Seems fine, 18 months later.
45897

The second one I show below is a simple pine stool I made back in March. I painted that with a few coats of paint to match a bookcase, and then a couple coats of flecto varathane water-based clear coat. Have noticed any wear on it yet.
45435

(ps: someone send me a PM and explain what I'm doing wrong here with the images? I checked the tutorial thread, and I thought I did the right thing, but it puts the images as links, and not as images. I've done attachments before, but this time I needed to attach an image already in another thread. sigh)