For now, I am thinking of leaving my 2 Pi towers in baltic birch in natural. I tried a natural stain by Minwax and a teak oil by Watco. Overall, the results are similar with the stain turning out a bit blotchy. What is a recommended finish for baltic birch that is natural, not blotchy? Should I just go with a polyurethane finish and be done with it?
a lot of your success will depend on wood prep. Sand it smooth as glass, use ascending grits, starting w/ around 200 and work up to 500-600 or higher if you can get it. That's a big part of job. Next step is to put a thin coat of good filler. here's a link to a very good one below. You put this on thin, dries quickly, then sand it again with a fine grit. This is the stuff that really solves the "blotchies"! Then you can put an oil finish on it, or get a good wax (my preference). Store below has a lot of better waxes, oils, etc. You can probably find 'em locally if you know what you're looking for.
one other thing- sanding should be done by hand if you want really nice finish- to ez to gouge or nick when using power sanders & then you've gone backwards.
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