Question for folks familiar with finishes for high traffic wood surfaces: my brother-in-law and I have been working on a red oak farmhouse table and we are planning to stain it dark to match some other furniture but are curious about input on what finishes would be low maintenance and easy to apply over the stain. Ideally we don’t want have to use coasters or be concerned about spills. I am thinking just a couple poly coats on top of the stain would work. I’ve also used Danish Oil on lower traffic surfaces before with good success and like how those look. Any ideas?
I would recommend a hard wax oil finish… either Osmo Polx oil or Rubio monocoat. Both are great products, easy to apply and repair. They were designed for hardwood floors so you know they are durable.
I’ve used rubio on our dining room table and desk. It’s held up great in my opinion. You will get a ring from condensation, but it fades after a while, maybe not completely. The hard wax oil is not as durable as other finishes, but it is really easy to redo it if you want to touch it up. Just sand it, and re-apply. Rubio has various colors as you can use as well, so you could skip the stain.
You can apply a ceramic coat over rubio to enhance protection. It does bring up the sheen a bit.
Poly is going to be more durable. I prefer the look of hardwax oils, so its basically all I use.
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