I am refinishing a friends solid cherry coffee table which had some scratches and divots through the factory finish. I scraped the finish off and sanded to the bare wood. I stained it with GF Black Cherry water based stain until the original factory color was restored.

I have done this five times now, because no matter what I use as a top coat either has fish eyes, alligatoring, or is otherwise totally unacceptable. Here is an example of my top coat process and products:

1) One coat of thinned shellac. No issue with finish. This was followed by two coats of GF water based semi-gloss. Issues showed up.
2) Two coats of Danish oil and dried for two weeks, then shellac, GF water based, and issues showed up.
3) Two coats of GF water based only and issues show up.
4) Two coats of GF SOLVENT based finish and issues show up.

I was speaking to a highly respected furniture maker and he stated at some point, someone could have used a silicone polish which has contaminated the wood.

How do I deal with a potential silicone issue and get a good finish.