I was finishing off a few projects in the past couple of weeks and it dawned on me as to what irks me about polyurethane finishes. It's solid state compared the vacuum tube you get with oil finishes.When poly dries, light does not seem to diffuse through the layer of finish. Rather, reflections happen on the surface, resulting in very crisp and sharp refelctions. Look closely at light points on poly finish and they all have sharp edges. Clinical to a fault.
Oil finished (tung, linseed, etc) on the other hand gives soft diffused reflections, where light points have fuzzy edges. Warm and lucious.
G.