I have a solid oak coffee table that is about 25 years old, the top needs refinished due to age and abuse by the kids through the years. I am going to sand the entire table and re-stain as needed but what is the best finish for it? I dont want the plastic coated type thick finish, just a nice natural wood type finish with a little shine, kind of like a kitchen cabinet look.
Kids are no longer an issue.
Ron

If you dont want the plastic look but need a durable finish I would use a satin or maybe semi gloss polyurethane. Shellac is also a nice choice but harder to work with. Tung oil is also good but will require many coats to equal a finish that is durable. I would go for the polyurethane, light sanding between coats to knock down any imperfections, prob 2 or three coats would do. I also like to use a foam brush to minimize brush marks.

I redid the entire set of oak furniture a few years back for the same reason by sanding all of the surfaces back to wood, re-staining, and a final finish of Min-Wax spray semi-gloss polyurethane.

They continue to look perfect and have stood up to quite a few "opps".

As far as color matching while re-staining, you can mix any of the like-kind stain to get the color you want.

Just follow all the directions to a "T" and remember to use vacuum & tack rags.

A good cup of coffee. :D

I do it for a living and we are slowly phasing out lacquer for a harder catalyzed varnish. its really a durable finish that nothing but sand paper will take off

You are going to laugh,:yes: but...
I have been a carpenter for 20 years. I am in my 40's now, and the best thing I have found for most any wood is, "automotive clear".



Are you through laughing yet?



Seriously. I have applied "turbo clear" on wood for several years. Not too heavy, but 2 or 3 medium coats does wonders. My kitchen cabnets are hand made, Red Oak. My father and I made them. I sprayed them 6 years ago and they still look brand new. All of the trim and the hard wood floor in the dining room and bedroom are sprayed too.Even the 6" T&G on the vaulted and tray ceiling is sprayed.The doors, base, crown, chair rail and casing, too.

I stained the trim and such, let it dry overnight and sprayed a medium coat of clear on the next afternoon. Lightly sanded it with 320 dry and shot another coat. Sand with 400, do a light dust and install it. One and a half days versus 3 or 4 for poly. It's hard as a rock. Is dam near impossible to scratch and holds up to animals, too. Cats don't even attempt to claw it anymore after they got nailed with a shoe a hundred times. And I figure if clear will last 5 or 10 years outside, it will last forever inside the house.

And I have 5 kids at home!
Did I mention my wife loves how easy it is to dust.:D

I like wipe-on oil based poly, but it's slow. I got a nice finish on some old Mahogany with it, but 7 or 8 coats of crystal clear hi gloss followed by a couple coats semi-gloss to soften the effect a little. With this deal the individual coats are very thin, takes several coats to build up a finish. I wet-sanded using mineral spirits as the wet stuff between each coat.

Automotive clear coat, sounds a lot faster and ought to last forever indoors.

Wow, after some google work found that turbo clear stuff for sale online. only $804 per gallon??

HA,HA,HA. , you must have found it on House of Colors site.
I can get it for ya for about $160 a gal. through any automotive paint supplier. That's with the quart of catilist. It is the clear that alot of shops use in the jamb areas, cause it dries down so quickly.
More expensive than poly though. I paid $56 for a gal. of it, about a year ago.