Maple - utilitarian finish suggestions?

[alex grams]

I am making drawer fronts for some storage cabinets in the garage out of maple, and really just want a simple wear resistant finish. The simplest I could think of would be to just do straight waterlox, a wipe on poly, a watco danish oil, or one of the 'tung' oil finishes such as formbys from the borg.

I really don't want anything fancy, just some ware resistance and maybe a little color to highlight the grain.

Am open to other suggestions if anyone happens to have one.

Thanks in advance.

[Larry Fox]

I would reach for the Waterlox or some leftover shellac for this task. Basically it sounds like whatever you have lying around and want to get rid of should work.

[Howard Acheson]

Brush or wipe on a couple of coats of an oil based varnish. Makes little difference what manufacturer. Use up whatever you have. Shellac would be fine too.

However, any of the so called "oil finishes" would not be very protective or durable.