One of the best wood finishes is a nice French Satin, achieved through diligence and elbow grease. What you do is start with clean, bare wood.

1. Apply a coat of boiled linseed oil, rubbing with the grain. Try to get nice even coverage.

2. Let the oil soak for 12-24 hours.

3. Rub the entire surface with 0000 steel wool.

4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 another 25-30 times.

The process will take about a month, but when you're done, you have a finish so rock hard and impervious to anything, you'll hardly believe it.