Oil and waterbased Polyureseal of Pjne Counter top

[Mihls]

Wished I found this forum earlier.. Just got a 1 1/2 inch Pine Countertop installed with a sink.. yes I know. Pine was not my first choice but the selected Maple piece had cracks. Anyway, the piece is beautiful but I am fully aware of the softness of it and want to at least try to protect it as long as possible. Do not want to use Poly oil based because of the yellowing of the wood but found this product, AFM SafeCoat, Polyureseal BP which is water based urethane.. lower VOCs, etc...

But the wood is soo dry and would love to give it some oil plus stain it lighly so came across one of the Wood whisperer's videos about how to this..The first step would be to oil it with boiled linseed oil, wait for it to cure then sand it, then step 2 to apply the water based stain, sand it lightly,  then apply shellac and waut the appropriate time- Then apply the water-based Polyureseal.

Has anyone tried this on a countertop?

[RichardA]

Are you living in the house?  If so you're gonna find that Linseed oil, has an odor that is not pleasant, and it lingers for a long time. And the drying time is long as well.  Water based poly is not going to yellow as much as an oil based. I haven't tried what you plan to do, I'd personally use a clear sealer that's water based, then several coats of poly. 

[drzaius]

I will tell you something you are not going to want to hear. A wooden counter with a sink is a dicey thing to begin with. It takes careful installation and finishing. And it can be maintenance intensive. But your real problem is that you picked just about the worst wood for your counter. It is so soft that even careful use will result in scratches & dents that will allow moisture & spills to easily get into the wood. 

I'm not sure what you mean when you say the wood is so dry. Dry is what you want. Then apply a good finish. I think the best bet in this case might be a clear penetrating epoxy sealer (CPES). It is an epoxy that is formulated to be almost water thin, so that it will be absorbed into the wood surface. That will also make the surface just a little more resistant to damage. Then apply a couple of top coats of poly.

Forget about staining pine. Pine is very prone to blotching & it's very difficult to hand apply a stain evenly. Spray application of a tinted finish is probably the way to go if you really want it stained.