I'm finishing up a small side table I made out of cherry. It's my first use of cherry. It was intended to be my first all hand tool project, but I ended up "cheating" due to time (I'm not that good yet, so it was going real slow). The table will be used next to a chair and primarily as a place to hold a drink. I need the top to have a durable finish. I use shellac a lot and love it's versatility, but obviously not good for the top. After reading a lot of "best finish..." articles it's as with most cases up to the owner.
My thought is a couple coats of oil (BLO or Tung) followed by a few coats of shellac. The top would then be finished with some oil-based poly.
Thoughts?