The “best” finish for you depends on your situation and defination of “best”. If you have kids and expect your table to have rugged use, oil based polyurethane is the toughest that you can apply. Since you will be putting a lot on, I would buy a polyurethane marked for floors and put three coats of poly on everything with one extra on the table top and the first one cut with mineral spirits to about 80% poly.
The down side of the oil based poly is that it has an amber cast that will not let your maple stay as light colored as possible. If this is a criteria, I would go with a water based poly, 4 coats, and don’t thin this.
If you are going for the shiniest look and deepest luster, I would go with lacquer and spray a lot of coats on with intermediate sanding about every 4 coats. This will have some amber look but not as much as the oil based poly.
One other item to consider is the shine. A gloss finish will look great but show off any defect in your finish. The gloss will also show more effects of use and normal wear and tear. A satin finish will make any defects less visible. Some say that satin oil based poly does not adhere between coats as well as gloss. I have never had a problem but it is not unusual to use gloss oil based poly for the base coats and a satin finish of the same brand for the top coat.
Just like any painting or finishing project, the amount of prep work you do will have a big effect on the finished product.
Henry in MI
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