Reply by Bill White

If you can find a hunk of bois d’arc or mesquite, you’ll have a tray for life. DO NOT PUT POLYCRAPITHANE ON IT!!!!!! Sand it, wet it lightly to raise the grain, sand it again with a finer grit. You know the drill. You want to burnish the wood. I’ve even polished on the lathe with another piece of wood to get the burnish.
Bill

-- bill@magraphics.us