Finishing

Quick easy natural wood look in Satin or Gloss. Go with Minwax wipe on poly. Wipe a thin coat on with a rag, when dry, light sand, tack rag and repeat. Each coat dries in two hours. Build up as many coats as necessary to get the smoothness you want.

I went 4 coats on Red Oak which was only sanded to 120 grit. It's nice and smooth, but you can still feel the wood grain "I like it - you know it's real". Want it perfectly smooth, give it more sanding and an extra coat or two..

Try a sample and see what you think. Best way to know if you like it. If it needs to be smoother - then you need to fill the pores in the wood first.

Regardless, testing your chosen finish on a sample piece of stock and make any changes now, it is a lot less expensive than testing on your desk.

Wipe on Poly is a solvent based product. But there is hardly any smell. I don't find it any worse than water based products.

Pat