I try and recommend Minwax, Parks and Sherwin williams stuff on forums because almost everybody has a Depot or Sw store near them.
The Minwax water Poly and Helmsman varnish are tough products to beat for the money.

Almost always I buy gloss for the depth it has and rub it out to the desired sheen. I'm just a small fish by most standards so I can have gloss or anything else with one product and dont have pails and drums all over the place in various....

There are a half dozen really good professional products out there and they are better than a lot of store bought things for both performance and ease of use. They are not always cheaper just better suited for different applications. I use Hood and you can check out some of their things at the web site.

I a liquid silicon called "new car finish" kmart use to have it! If you put this on anything. Forget about recoating it for the rest of your life with any more finish! Silicone is the ultimate contaminent and you'll have blue marlin fish eyes in schools.

The new pre-cats dont so much need the shellac base or a sanding sealing like the nitro used to. I hear tell that base coat of a good shellac to pop the grain and then followed up with water borne can look like the real thing. It wont be long before solvent type finishes are nothing more than passages in history book. (maybe a recipie in Epsteins kitchen)

Bill

• http://www.hoodfinishing.com