I seal with clear fletchlaq or Profin poly. The Bohning product dries faster and I can recoat sooner.Both are thin and require very little thinning to maintain that viscosity. Both give a super smooth and durable coat. I use minwax stains both as they come from the factory or mixed to acheive different colors. I also use Cabots for a different look. Sometimes I air brush the stain on to get the efffect I want. This requires a straining so no goobers are present in the stain to screw up the whole process. Once air brushed on I some times take a dry natural bristle brush to even further blend the fading of the stain onto a natural area of the shafting. Favorite colors are Red mahogany, mahogany, dark wlanut, walnut and red oak in the minwax stains. Cabots I like bark brown and a red that I am forgetting the name of right now.(could be a tile red) Oh and Cabots I use solid body stains and thin them.