I am building a table for family. The top is curly maple and the rest is eastern maple. My mom is very, very sensitive to odors, she is on an oxygen tank 24/7, so I’m not trying to mess around. I built a poplar table for them a little while ago finished with boiled linseed oil, then de waxed shellac, then oil based polyurethane. I though the top coat being poly urethane would be pretty innocuous, but she had a reaction to it and had to air it out on the porch for a couple months.

For thw the next one, I was thinking just straight water based poly, but I don’t think it’ll really bring out the beauty of the wood. I got some real nice curly maple for the top and if not for the odor issue, I have all sorts of ideas. What do you all think. I suppose I could try BLO, de waxed shellac, and then water based poly, but I am hoping for something simpler, like maybe water poly with just an amber dye added or something? Is this possible wothout sacrificing appearance?