First - seeing this pop up again makes me happy. Wish more of these threads ran free and wild on this forum.
One of the qualities of epoxy as a sealer coat is that it tends to 'reveal' the chatoyance of the wood as well as shellac and oil (when used as a sealer or not). Some might argue...eye of the beholder and all that stuff. Shellac was the standard for a very long time simply because of a method of application, french polish. <-no one is interested in that anymore because of the sure to follow trip to the doctors office to find out whats wrong with your arm.
In consideration of the oil you choose, I'm not sure I'd get too lost in the woods on this. Find an oil you like that has a resin in it, and do your thing. Arguments about this oil being better than that oil constitute the life spans of many a dead woodworker. I'll even confess that I find myself in the weeds again when I'm digging through MSDS sheets trying to find out how much resin, and what kind, is actually in the can that has the pretty label. You could even make your own. 80% of the total volume would be 2 parts BLO and 1 part thinner (mineral spirits or turpentine), and the remaining portion would be 20% spar varnish of a reputable make. The spar varnish contains the resin.
My opinion here; whatever you do, a little resin in the oil is a step in the right direction. The SDS's, or MSDS's' (whichever you prefer to call them) USUALLY have that information on them. I looked up the Minwax Antique Oil Finish you mentioned, and I couldn't find the resin on it. But, it's 6:30am and I might have glazed right over it. Compare that to the Tried and True Varnish Oil MSDS and you'll se that it mentions the resin name (Sylvetac?). Probably a proprietary resin that if revealed, would be a common resin slightly modified.
