I seen some wood products at craft show that were very smooth and shiny and you could see into the grain. How?
I like to work with wood and create unique personal items. Not very good at finishing.
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The way I personally like to finish my work is with three things: pre-stain, stain, and and polyurethane. First apply to the pre-stain to your whole project. This will allow the stain to absorb evenly into the wood. Have you ever noticed the end grain of wood is sometimes twice as dark as the surface? Pre-stain will prevent that. Wait for it to dry for about 10 minutes then apply your stain. I personally like to wipe some of the stain off with a rag right after application so it doesn’t get to dark, but I guess it depends on how dark you wanted. After the stain has dried for 24 hours take a damp paper towel and wipe off any dust that might have settled. Then apply a thin coat of polyurethane (varnish). Watch for drips! Place your project on top of some wet paper towels or rags. This will help prevent dust from settling. After your first coat is dry, sand your project lightly with about 80 grit sandpaper. Make sure your project is smooth before you apply your next thin coat. Keep applying more coats of varnish. After each coat, sand with a slightly higher grit sandpaper. Hope this helps.
It sounds like a very light stain or no stain, and then a layer of poly.
You just have to sand with the grain, with medium, then fine, then extra fine grit sand paper to get it as smooth as possible.
You may use a million types of stains that still show the grain. if you want the natural and non colored look, you can clean the wood with a nice lightly dampened cloth, allow to air dry COMPLETELY, then put on a few coats of Poly Urethane allowing to dry completely inbetween. if you dont let it dry, it will get gloppy and will stay soft and sappy. you should put it on in thin layers, and let about 12hrs for drying time inbetween. you may need up to 4 coats if your wood isnt sanded as smooth as it could be.