Phisherman writes:

Wax does not offer much protection, although I use it on most of my
projects after the finish has cured for a month or so. I use

Well... My mother has a maple kitchen table, wich is by now about 15
years old. It got a wax treatment (premixed beeswax with turpentine,
if i remember correctly) at the beginning and no refreshment
since. The *only* stains that could not be wiped off with the rinsing
sponge were left by the spores of a mushroom that lay on that table
for a few hours, now the is a nice pattern of it's lamellae visible,
even after a few years.
The table suffers daily use in the kitchen and is still in perfect
shape. So don't overdo the finishing and stay away from making a
plastic table with wooden core...

--
Dr. Juergen Hannappel http://lisa2.physik.uni-bonn.de/~hannappe
Phone: +49 228 73 2447 FAX ... 7869
Physikalisches Institut der Uni Bonn Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
CERN: Phone: +412276 76461 Fax: ..77930 Bat. 892-R-A13 CH-1211 Geneve 23