Bean,
After some rigorous testing (That's a DAMHIKT in fact
), I'm not sure that sanding sealer and wax can really stand up to the slings and arrows that usually come the way of a table top, unless, as Gill says, it'll just be there to look beautiful. I think Trev may have something with the tung oil though. I had a long conflab with a pro finisher a while back, and although he used all sorts of crud for the paying work, he swore by pure tung oil for his own stuff. Said he'd done a butcher's block type kitchen trolley top with it years ago and it was still as tough as old boots. The only real drawback to it is time. Time between coats for it to dry, and the sheer time involved applying multiple coats. Very easy to wipe over a fresh coat at a later date though. I've used Liberon's finishing oil with some success on an occasional table, which does have some tung oil in it but dries considerably faster. My dad used it on all the pine doors in the house too, and it's standing up very well to daily life; a quick wipe over once a year or so and they come out looking like new. Definitely an option to consider. For real toughness then you want to go down the lacquer route. I've never used it myself -yet- but I understand it
can be applied successfully by hand rather than sprayed. FWIW.
Cheers, Alf
P.S. Gill, good point about the steel wool. I always forget that potential hazard 'cos I never use it any more.
