Dave,
Just two coats of clear satin poly followed by a light sanding with 320 grit paper to smooth it up. Then a lightly thinned coat of the same poly applied lightly with a cloth. Finished off with some paste wax and some buffing.
We don't have much of any lodge pole locally that I'm aware of. I've heard of some around but never run onto it. We have a lot of spruce and I have done a couple of dressers from spruce I cut in my yard.
I have a line on two cottonwoods that are huge and solid. The owners want them down and they will make a ton of lumber for me. Most cottonwoods this big are rotten in the center but these are both solid. It's not maple or oak but it makes pretty fair lumber. One fellow showed me an entire set of kitchen cabinets he did in cottonwood. They were really very attractive.
Mart
