Today I was able to apply the first two coats of varnish to everything. I kind of glossed over it in my last post, but the first coat I used was Shellac. I don't know if Cypress has enough oil in it to cause problems with the varnish. So yeah, I'm being overly cautious and likely over-engineering the solution. I'm using varnish for the last three coats.

I probably could have gotten away with Thompsons Water Sealer or something, but I'm using this as practice for playing with different finishing options. Here's what I'm using.

The Shellac was rather easy to use, cut it with denatured alcohol (1/2 and 1/2), and it gave the wood a nice color. The following pictures were taken after the first coat of varnish was applied. Not sure how well it comes through, but I was amazed at how nice it looked.

I have to admit, after the Shellac and two of the three coats of varnish it's looking really nice! (And to think, I was considering not bothering to finish it...) One more coat of varnish tomorrow and then I'll let it dry for a couple of days. I'll do the final sanding and assembly on Friday.