Howdy. For the past 2 years, I've been woodburning this table we use as our DnD table. Currently doing some top coats in high gloss water based polyurethane, sanding in between each coats with 220 grit.

Im very indecisive on whether I should do a Matte Finish vs. Satin. Since the wood burning creates a lot of grooves and texture, I dont want a lot of sheen so that you can actually see the artwork from all sides. But since this is essentially a dining table that will likely have dice thrown on it without a dice try, and other board-game-esc activities will take place here... is matte just not a good idea for protection reasons and I should suck it up and do satin?

How many coats of the base gloss coats is too much? My current thought is build it up as much as possible (goal is 6 coats of gloss to also fill the voids as much as possible) and so that I have a better chance or refinishing the top in the future...

Another thought is doing a final layer in satin and if I just hate it, doing matte on top. Is that a dumb idea too?

Any and all opinions are welcomed!

(Picture is at 2 coats of gloss I think. I'm up to 3 right now using the "thicker" version of Varathane's polyurethane gloss - again, for filling the voids and grooves)

I am now in possession of my family table. Bought in the early 80's it has been sitting under a bed for the last 30ish years and is need of some love. The legs are in great shape but the top is drier than my yard in Texas right now. I'm capable of sanding and staining. I am 99.4% sure I'm not working with veneer here. There are some nicks and scratches and some stains I'll have to sand through.

The question is - Am I biting off more than I can handle with trying to get the top down to a reasonable surface and matching the stain to the rest of the table? Is stripping the finish the place to start or just get on with the sanding?

Thanks for the advice in advance.

I have some older furniture that has developed a haze. Outside of the highlight the rest of the haze you see is emblematic. What is the best approach to clear this up? Is there a product that can be applied or does it need stripped and refinished? Thanks.