I’ve found my finishing problem: I’m building things out of pine.
Traditional stain, gel stain, urethane, tung oil, danish oil…on oak, cherry or maple many of these look fine. No matter what I put on pine, it comes out looking like a septic prolapse.
I’ve gotten a nice finish using a boatload of sanding and then either Briwax or stain, but it only really works if you want a pretty light finish at the end. I’m talking up to like 600-1k grit, too. But it does look damn shiny & good when you do it.