Before I even started woodworking, I had to finish wood. In the restoration of my first old house, I replaced a lot of the old damaged woodworking and stripped down the doors, staircase etc.
Back in those days, polyurethane was new on the market so being fairly resistant to change, I stuck with the old varnish routine of finishing. When I finally reached the point of coming to accept polyurethane as a product that was here to stay, I embraced it as a wonderful thing. Oil based stain and polyurethane satin finish was my standard fare for wood finishing.

As I became more involved with wood working I began doing a lot of finishing. I pretty much followed the safety directions on the can but the fumes seemed to hang in the air and on the product itself for days. Some of the chests I finished seemed to hold the fragrance of solvents for weeks after, sharing the fumes with any nearby audience every time the lid was opened.

Having destroyed more than the standard allotment of brain cells during the days of my decadent youth, and realizing I needed to preserve what I had left, I started on the hunt for an alternative.

Fortunately, the water based finishes started hitting the market. The stains weren't that good, but the water based urethanes showed a lot of promise.

I started using aniline dyes and water based polyurethane.

This wasn't without problems. Using like based finishes, if I wasn't careful, the urethane re dissolved the dye and would smear everything. I kept at it though and got pretty good at it.

Finally, this past year, I discovered the Holy Grail of finishes. I love this stuff. It is the easiest finishing product I have ever used. The results are fantastic.

This is a great product, goes on easy, dries fast with minimal grain raising. For what little grain raising there is, a light touch with a sanding pad, takes care of it. They have a variety of colors. It's odorless and color fast. Using their water based urethane as a top coat causes no smearing.  

I can't say enough about the polyurethane. This is the absolute best I've used. I've used them all so I'm comfortable making that statement.

Virtually no odor, dries fast hardly raises the grain, dries rock hard and smooth as glass. Cleans up with soap and warm water..

None of the hardware stores or home centers in my area carry the product. Fortunately Rockler does.

It was the best of both worlds for me. I've dealt with Rockler for 20 years and have always found them to be an excellent supplier. This finishing product is fantastic.

Here's a quick summary on how to use the product.
I sand my project, scraping is supposed to be the optimum, but I'm not very good at it and usually gouge the wood. I work my way through the grits ending with 150 grit. I then wipe down the project with a damp cloth. This in lieu of a tack cloth. The tack cloth can leave an oil residue that will keep the stain from properly covering the wood.

The damp cloth does two things, 1) cleans up the dust and 2) raises the grain. I've always used a damp cloth so this wasn't anything new for me. When dry lightly sand the wood. Don't overdo it, just return to a smooth surface.

Lay on a liberal coat of stain, (Use a cloth or a cheap foam brush) let it set for a few minutes and wipe away the excess. You can either use a cloth or a paper towel to do this. After the stain dries, you will notice that the grain rose again ever so slightly. Lightly sand till smooth being careful not to sand through the stain. I've always had to go through this step when I used the dye so this was nothing new either. What I've started to sand with is the foam sanding pads as the video recommended. If you're resistant to change (like I often am) use 220  or finer grit to sand at this stage. Don't use steel wool. If you leave any residue, when you apply the finish it will rust and stain the wood.

Wipe with a damp cloth to clean up the dust. Let dry and apply first coat of polyurethane (you can either brush on or use a foam bush or pad. The foam brush or pad works great and it's cheap). Let dry, lightly sand, apply two more coats in the same fashion.

That's all there is. One of the real nice features of this product is the fast drying time. Since, my finishing area is the same as my woodworking area, getting out all the dust is near impossible. Like most of you, I don't have room for a separate finishing area. This product dries quickly so unlike it's oil based counterpart, you don't end  up with all the dust dimples. In addition, my shop is in my wife's store so noxious odors are unacceptable.

I usually refuse to suggest that anyone use a specific product but I feel strongly enough about the quality and performance of this product.

Any questions, drop me an email.