[Arran]

 Polyurethane is worse then that, whenever I used it or alkyd varnish, it was more or less dry to the touch in 24 hours, but I had to wait three or four days before I could sand it and coat it again. This reminds me of some visitor to the alternative forum, they ended up with a console that had been passed down through the family, and had a more or less nice original finish, and asked about it's value. So what did he do with it?, he applied polyurethane over it to "preserve" it.
 I told him that by applying the poly on top he just killed a good percentage of collectable and monetary value and explained why, much as Ron did above. He did not like that very much and started arguing with me about how his father, the wood worker, told him how horrible lacquer was, blah, blah, blah. Curious with these self proclaimed experts that they didn't learn what I learned back in school, that you don't apply dissimilar finishes on top of each other, certainly not over top of a nice original finish on a vintage piece?
Regards
Arran