LOL, ole gal is making some coasters and other natural wood items, this particular product she is using for this batch of coasters is  a brazilian walnut supposedly was meant for flooring, but she got a deal and well gotta say bootiful stuff, easy to plane the groove off back and cut tongue and groove off and walla shes got coaster stock, 

 

so shes tried; odies , which i really like, kinda okay to use, have some osmos, well went on easy, i've yet to go out today and see how well that went, or finished up, and watco natural  on some, kinda like watco once it cures. and the spalted coasters she put osmos on one set to see how that went and i think maybe watco on another.  Me thinks imo the big issue is longevity of wear, and ease of install or application, 

Shes pondering putting cork cushion pads on the bottom, but hmmmmm,  we have a gaggle of them stashed left over from a buy some time back.

 

so thoughts on longevity, ease of install, ect. 

knowledge and experience is power to succeed

rj in az

Lacquer looks great but water will kill it. Shellac easy app but again water is a problem. I would go with Polyurethane or Marine Varnish for longevity that is assuming these will be used. 

 

Another option is to put cork in the bottom and finish the wood however you want.

Poly or marine varnish like @Gerald mentioned. You could go the epoxy route but that does have more application concerns 

https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tips/techniques/finishing/water-resistant

 

Wipe on poly is just thinned poly, so I'm thinking with more coats, it should be the same as "poly"

I like the quickness and ease of application with the wipe on poly. But any time saved is negated by the need for multiple coats. My preferred finish is one of the Watcos followed by sprayed or brushed poly. It certainly isn't  any faster, though.  Don't  ask me why I use the Watco  under the poly, because I  don't  know.  it's just the way I've always done it. I think that when I began using it in the late '70s I thought it offered more protection. And, it evened out the color of the wood....sometimes.

When I started woodworking decades ago, I started with Watco.   A friend told me to add some varnish to it to beef it up.  Forgive me Father, as I have sinned.  This was my finish for everything for a few years until Flexner's book (and some others) came out.  That opened my eyes.

 

Last time I looked at the MSDS for Watco Danish Oil, the rough formula was

• 2/3 mineral spirits (that evaporate away and add nothing to the final finish)
• 2/9 linseed oil
• 1/9 varnish resins

 

The usual home-brew is 1/3 each (though the varnish from can is likely to have some % of mineral spirits, but certainly not that much)

Wasn't it Flexner who said something like "Half of what we know about finishes is good info. We just don't know which half." 

I used to always assume that I was the dumbest guy in the room and, everyone else had it all figured out. That was back in the day when the info came in print on paper. 

With the advent of the internet, I've grown to more appreciate that maybe I was only the second or third dumbest guy. Everybody's an expert now. So, like Flexner, I don't know who to believe. 

whole lotta good info, see which way we roll in next day or so.

thank sall

rj in az