Best finish for dining room table

[Linda Magness]

We are refinishing a dining room set and need some advice. The set is probably from about the 1950s - 1960s. We were told it is pecan wood, but don't know for sure. It is very heavy wood, and looks similar to oak. We stripped the old stain and are restaining it. However, we don't know what kind of final finish to put on it. We have teenage kids and the table will be used a lot. I don't want to have to worry about the finish being easily ruined by glasses set on it, However, I don't want the finish to look like plastic, either. Are there any suggestions out there? I would appreciate some experienced advice. Thanks!

[Sam Yerardi]

There are several choices you have but you sort of narrowed it down when you mentioned how the table will be used. Shellac, Varnish, Lacquer, or polyurethane are candidates with the degree of protection essentially in that order. Myself I would limit my choices based on your use down to a couple: varnish, lacquer or polyurethane with poly being my choice. Both are water-resistant, tough, but poly has an advantage over lacquer in this application in that poly is easier to apply. Semi-gloss or satin would work well. The main caveat with poly is make sure you know what you're putting it over. i.e., compatible stains, etc. If this were a finish that you thought you might need to remove later (for whatever reason) poly would be more difficult to work with.

[Steve Schoene]

Polyurethane is just one kind of varnish. Abrasion resistance is about the only meaningfully superior trait when compared to traditional resin varnish. That's a good thing for floors, and not relevant for diningroom tables even with teens in the house.

Traditional resin varnish is clearer, which gives it a better chance of avoiding the "under plastic" look. It also is harder, which makes the traditional resin varnish easier to rub out to an even sheen. Traditional resin varnishes, ie. with phenolic or alkyd resin, are less likely to have adhesion problems over stripped wood (though you still need to take care to neutralize and remove any residual wax and the like from the stripping process.) For lighter colors, Pratt & Lambert 38 or McCloskey Heirloom (apparently now to be sold as Cabot Varnish.) are good. For darker shades Behlen Rockhard is particularly good.

You do have to decide whether you want to fill the pores of the pecan (or hickory) using pore filler. Filled pores go with more formal styles.

Shellac and nitrocellulose lacquer are less durable than varnish, though both have stood the test of time well. Coasters would be desirable for either.

[Dick Latshaw]

What Steve said. You can rely on Steve, and on Howie - Howard Acheson - who has not spoken yet, to provide you with good information on most any finishing question.

[Sam Yerardi]

Having raised two teenage girls myself I would not want to have to use an approach that I will most certainly have to repair on a regular basis, or at least much sooner than I would want to. I love shellac and varnish and use them regularly on a lot of the period furniture I build but I wouldn't recommend shellac IMHO .

Obviously by my answer I'm not the person to give the best advice as implied by the last poster. Steve has given you good information. Just tried to help based on my experience with teenagers and not my finishing experience. Sorry.

[Linda Magness]

Thanks, guys for the information. We have used polyurethane before but never anything else. We will check into the varnish and see what we come up with. Maybe we will learn something new!