Rings? Shellac?

I took a tour of Wallace and Hinz
(http://www.wallaceandhinz.com/gallery/) last year. They make very cool
(expensive) bars and finish the tops with Spar varnish.. The tops are
solid wood over plywood with some kind of wax paper like layer between
them to reduce friction during expansion and contraction. Why spar
instead of poly, I don't know. Spar comes in gloss, semi-gloss and
satin at the hardware store here.

On 1/17/2010 8:41 AM, Robatoy wrote:
I have a client who had a nice countertop made by a local cabinet shop.
It is only 30" wide by 22" deep and is mostly covered by a square vessel
bowl/sink.
He built it out of 2 layers of particle board and veneered it with a
nice thick slab of rosewood.
He finished it with, who-knows-what and there were rings from glassware
on the finish, but not into the veneer itself.
The guy who made it is dead, so no info from him.
So far, I Festooled down to the veneer, all is well, looks nice, etc.

Now...spar varnish? (She thinks that would be too shiny) I will want to
spray it, so my (up to) 2.0 tip will handle thick stuff.
Shellac is out.
Poly? That would give me a satin/semi-gloss option, but long exposure to
a wet glass?
Water based?

My first choice would be Autocryl, but waaaaay too much money and hassle.
What else does the wRECk Collective have in its bag of tricks?

Any and all help will be appreciated.

r