It's cyclical: one down, twenty five to go

With paralyzing trepidation, some seriously professional procrastinating, and four returned gallons of various sealers, I finally convinced myself to polyurethane a table top. Here's before:

And here's after {directly after -- no dry time}:

Whew. All that changed was the darks got a little darker, and the warms got a little warmer. All this fear and trepidation was for naught.

Before I sealed it, I had some hard work finally solving the problem of cracks {there are a lot of small gaps and nail holes that need to be filled to comply with health code}. After many samples of putty and fillers, I discovered a water based, paintable, brown caulk, that I simply squeeze out with a caulk gun and smooth with a wet towel. It totally blends in! And it remains flexible so it won't crack out like a wood filler eventually would. I love unconventional solutions!

As for a sealer, I ended up going with a high-use Polyurethane in Satin. I applied two coats, with sanding in between. It looks great! I'm happy. And greatly relieved. And Amelie, it's not very shiny!

Success.