Finish for old Arm chair - sentimental value.

I am restoring an old armchair that belonged to my great grandfather. It has moulded curved arms made of a relatively soft wood with a speck through it. My grandmother did it up (probably in the 70's) with a thick coat of varnish. I have sanded off the varnish (I think this may have been a mistake) and would like to finish with something that will highlight the timber and be durable on the arms of the chair. I am trying to avoid a polyurethene finish. I did see an article in Australian Woodsmith about using Tung Oil under water based poly coating. It looked quite good. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
PS The timbers in the chair are light in colour and I would like to try to not make them too dark with the finish.
Thank you.

Have not read the article you refer to in Australian Woodsmith but the experience I have had with waterbase finishes it that they don;t stick to well to oil under them. Most likely I am wrong in the case to but would try it first on a test piece.

Cheers


Steve

What colour is the wood? Some finishes look better than others according to colour.

My choice of finishes for any furniture are usually oil, shellac or a wipe on finish. I usually make my own wipe ons from 1 part gum turps, 1 part alkoid (oil based) varnish and 1 part unboiled linseed oil. Simply wipe on and rub in, wiping off excess finish after about 20 minutes.

However....

I saw in Bunnings the other week that they're selling "Minwax" wipe on poly finish. Minwax are an American firm; this is the first time I've seen them in Australia. Eleven years ago I bought some Minwax Poly stain-and-varnish to coat a pine dresser I was making, it still looks fantastic, has no chips, hasn't yellowed or faded. It was applied in the high humidity of the Persian Gulf (at sea), survived three British winters and in the last seven years has moved from the UK to Vic to NT to WA and now Bundaberg. Pine furniture I've bought here in Oz already looks older.

It's not cheap, about $35 a can (I think it was a litre), but it'll go a long way. I'm convinced Minwax polyurethane varnishes knock spots off every other brand I'v tried, the wipe on will hopefully be similar; I guess I'll find out when I next make something to try it on!