Chris Bacon wrote:
Joe wrote:
"Dan-the-K" wrote:
I've got about a dozen pieces lined up for the treatment. In general,
I want to sandpaper, stain, topcoat, and then wax or polish. To avoid
incompatibility, I'll use Minwax products. That means Wood Finish for
the stain, polyurethane for the topcoat, and wax for the postfinish.
Sandpaper/steel wool when appropriate

I am not a finishing guy at all but I built a clock as a favor a few
months back. After posting some messages here I ended up using Poly
and the wax.

I'm guessing that you're both posting from r.w. What benefit
does polyeurghethane have over (say) shellac for a lasting
finish? What are DtK's "pieces"? "Pieces" often benefit from
"wax treatment", but I guess that's not what you had in mind.

It's not? Please explain "wax treatment."

I wouldn't say I'm posting from rec.woodworking. I'm cross-posting to
these two groups. I haven't spent much time with either one. I
generally hang out with comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware. My initial
impression is that although this thread fits better into r.w.,
rec.antiques tends to be more serious.
As to what I mean by "piece," its furniture, not necessarily antique.
This all started with noticing that the 3' x 8' conference table on
which I assemble/disassemble/modify computers has some badly dried out
spots. It's probably 50-100 years old and refinishing it should be
rewarding. I started noticing other pieces of furniture I could
finish. For example, I always hated the light color of the unfinished
IKEA furniture my ex-wife had bought. So that furniture is awaiting
staining.

The advantage I see in polyurethane is compatibility among Minwax
products. If I stick to the party line, everything should work
together well. The fishtank stand I'm working on (currently sanding it
with 180 paper) will take Wood conditioner (it's soft wood), stain,
polyurethane and wax. I do want to move on to shellac when
appropriate. There are reasons I don't want to use lacquer, tung oil,
or several other finishes.

Dan