I've gone dark (cherry, rosewood) before, but this time I'm going light (and cheap). On my Pi 2 towers I'm using white ash flexible (paperbacked) veneer from Constantine's, surrounded on the front baffle with a 1" wide frame of solid cherry, rounded over.

In earlier projects, I've used a simple polymerized Tung oil finish a la Bill E (as always, thanks!). I might well just go that way again (have not tested it on a scrap yet), but I'm looking for other suggestions as well. My goal is to leave the ash light (so it will contrast with the darker cherry border), so no heavy stains or dyes, I just want to make the grain (which is very nice, but subtle) a little more pronounced.

Thanks in advance.

• Tempest and Pi Construction Pix

The disadvantage to water base urethane is that it doesn't level well, but when you're basically sanding it all off during the grain filling process that matters little. At the end of the process you can go with a French rub if you want to, but what I do if I don't want to invest that much time and work is to allow the final coat to cure for two days and then give it a couple of coats of sprayed on oil base urethane or lacquer.

The other caveat with water base urethane is that it can have problems adhering when used over oil stains, so make sure you use an anilyne dye for grain highlighting.

• Tempest and Pi Construction Pix