Well, I'm back again. I tried tung oil and watco oil both in clear. Since I "cheaped out" and used poplar for the seven middle layers of my basket instead of the maple that was called for, I'm having a very difficult time finishing this thing. I bought some stain and tried a couple of different colors on some scraps and nothing looks very good because of the poplar not taking stain the same way as the oak. Most of the basket is going to be the edges of the poplar and they turn almost black with whatever I put on them except the oil. Anyway, long story short, I don't have a clue what I'm doing or what I should do. I did just take a couple of scraps, taped them together to get an idea of how they would look and shot a couple of coats of clear shellac on them. That looks like it will turn out the best. My biggest problem at this point, is that I glued everything together and had planned on using whatever finish I decided on for the whole basket. I'm open for anybody's advice that might be given. HELP!