Paste wax offers minimal protection. While water beads up on it, that is a manifestation of surface tension. It provides nearly zero resistance to water passing through. Polyurethane does not stick well to things. I had to refinish a table like this a few years ago. The owner applied a coat of poly to make it shinier. (File this under: "It sounded like a good idea at the time.") Besides looking terrible, about 1/4 of the table top had poly peeling off. Teak typically has a low-build finish on it. While generally thought to be "oiled" finish, it is usually a low build, very low sheen lacquer. Teak also contains natural oils that inhibit a lot of finishes from curing or curing hard. It needs a little knowledge and extra care in finishing. As I see it, you have a couple of choices if you can't or won't cover it: - Discipline to treat it with more gentleness, use placemats, etc. No finish is immune from physical damage. It's all a matter of degree and type of damage. The strength of the wood and its substrates also becomes a limiting factor. I have seen where people scratch and chip even the "indestructible" finishes. - Take it out and have someone strip and refinish it with a different top coat. What top coat that might be will depend upon the "system" that the place that you go uses, or if you are doing it yourself, what you are able to do based on your skill level, equipment and working environment. Despite this advice, if you choose to apply poly over the top and it does not work, you still have the strip-and-refinish option, it's just that you might be forced into it. The biggest mistake you can make with poly is to apply it too thick and un-thinned. Thin it down up to 50:50 mineral spirits, so you can wipe on the finish with a rag. Very light coats. While you will need more coats to get the same dry thickness, each coat will go on faster and is more foolproof for a beginner than brushing a good finish.

So, what you seem to be saying is that if the center panel is flat, then veneer should be fine? Our Omega Dynasty II door (Anson) will have full 1/4" furniture-grade veneer center panels. From what I can tell, the rest of the door is solid wood. Is 1/4" a decent "thickness" for veneer? Our wood is cherry stained in mandarin orange w/coffee glaze. It was mentioned that sometimes the stain doesn't "take" the same on veneer as on solid wood...does anyone have any first-hand experience if this is true of the cherry woods? [I know, it's probably tough making this call w/o seeing it...but maybe someone out there has seen Omega's Dynasty II veneers and can speak from experience...here's hoping!] I'm also wondering now if the drawer fronts will also have the veneer panel--but I don't know b/c their site also says: (B) Solid Dovetailed Drawers Drawer fronts are solid hardwood (MDF if opaque) and are attached to a 5/8" hardwood drawer box with dovetailed joints on all four corners. All drawers are sealed and top coated for a fine furniture look. There's no distinction made b/w Omega custom & Dynasty...so, it sounds like the center panel in the drawer fronts ARE sold wood, no veneer center panel. Does anyone know this for certain? (My KD is out of town this week so I cannot ask her.) As a matter of fact, the only difference I could find b/w Omega Dynasty/Dynasty II is the veneer center panel on doors...everything else seems the same. I hope this is true! I plan to replace the Anson doors with Artesia doors when we save up money again...it's one of the "scrimps" I made (I tried to "scrimp" on things I can replace or do later.) TIA if you can help!

Before talking about sanding and finishing,let's take direction from the Hippocratic Oath, "First do no harm". You will hear more ideas than you will be able to use from now to eternity,but some will lead to irreversible damage. One is sanding a crater into the wood (resist temptation to sand useing finger tips),another is applying finish over contaminates and some that can be unpredictable. First order of business is wiping intire top with a silicon remover. Next,apply a coat or two of deft to a couple of areas adjoining the damage to see if it melts into old finish indicating it is indeed lacquer. if old finish wrinkles,it's not lacquer and you must find what it is. Once you know type of finish,block sand the damaged area,tack and apply a coat of finish. Follow dry between coats instructions on container then sand,tack and finish once again,this time extending a bit outside first repair. Repeat until you are satisfied with appearance,let dry 3 or 4 times period reccomended for sand and recoat then rub finish out to matching gloss. You should use high gloss simply because it's a little tougher and rubs better.

Planning to buy a stain marker too from walmart, as I have gift card. Should I get dark walnut or red oak or red mahogany, leaning towards the red oak. Will also get the guardian wood repair filler sticks. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Guardsman-Wood-Repair-Filler-Sticks-with-Sharpener-5-count/21296155