In my uses of water based vs oil based, the difference is the resulting
colour.

Water based are completely clear. Oil based result in a slight colouration.
To some, including myself, this is how wood is "supposed" to look.

If the wood is being stained then the slight colouring of oil based may not
make much difference.

I particularly like the way unstained cherry looks with oil based varnish
compared to water based.

A big difference between these is the ability to sand.

Water based is not sandable until cured which is days. The coat is "dry" in
minutes, but is not cured for several days. Even when cured the coat is
sandable, but not able to be feathered. I recently had to sand an unstained
maple top and ended up with "holes" in the coat. It took several coats to
fix this.

Oil based take hours to dry, but once dry are cured and sandable. I have
found oil based sand and feathers very well.

I use both oil based and water based depending on the application/wood etc.

Water based is MUCH better to have the brush strokes disappear than oil, and
much easier for clean-up.

If you want to apply water based over oil based stain, make sure the stain
is fully dry before applying the acryllic.

Dave Paine.


"Richard Clements" wrote in message
...
aside from the wait time is there a major diff with Polyacrylic or
polyurethane, I've used polyurethane on a lot of stuff, for the most part
I'm happy with it, it just takes forever to finish a project with the wait
time between coats

anyone have experience with this?

Richard