Tallow wood finish

[rosewood]

Troops.
Need some advice please.
A neighbour up the road from me is installing a bar top into a brick surround on the western side of his new entertainment area and has asked for advice on what to finish it with.
It will cop a couple of hours of the afternoon sun and needs to be impervious to the odd beer spillage and the odd cup of coffee.
Nice piece of timber. 6mt long piece of Tallowwood, 450 wide and 60mm thick (one piece, no joins) so he is keen to give it the best possible protection available with a reasonably glossy finish.
Being a linseed oil or aussie clear man, this one is out of my league so hence I thought I would call on the wealth of knowledge that this forum has up its sleeve.
Thanks in advance.
Rob.

[Wongo]

I would use satin polyurethane.

[themage21]

Poly is one option and it'll work fine, Wongo's suggestion of satin finish would be nice as then it'll still look like wood. That said, clear finishes will all have a limited lifetime in the sunlight, it really comes down to maintenance after that, even the ones that I mention below.

If you're an oils sort of person, I had good results with Hard Burnishing Oil for a cot, which has regular exposure to water and other bodily fluids, but I'm not sure about the UV issue - it is an indoor product and predominantly Tung Oil, so depends on how much maintenance and just how intense the sunlight will be.

I've also used a marine decking oil Deks Olje, with success - I can confirm that the gloss version repels water well still beading several years later, even with exposure to direct sun for a few hours in the morning and then reflected sun for quite a lot of the rest of the day. The job with the satin/flat version is still doing well, but I've only had that coated since the last summer. It's still beading water at the moment.

[Fumbler]

From memory Tallowwood is naturally oily (and needs white spirit wipe down before gluing), so best check to see if there will be any reaction with different finishes etc. Not sure who to check with though.

[AngelaPetruzzi]

Poly may be hardy and withstand the standard spillages but eventually the sun and weather will deteriorate the surface. Once the surface cracks, and water gets underneath the surface of the varnish, the timber will grey off. I think we all have seen a number of fences and gates where this has happened around the neighbourhoods. Then, the only way of fixing it is to sand back and start again. Externally, especially on timber, it is not so much the product choice that is number one, however is maintenance.