[stevehertz]

For me, the available shades appear to be too far apart for them to be of use on most refurb jobs. The mahogany is too 'red', the dark oak is too 'dark', and the light oak is too 'light'. They're furniture colours. Radio cabinets were more often than not finished in mid brown, walnut kind of colours. You might get away with the dark one but depending on how many coats you apply a lot detailing, marquetry, and natural figuring may be lost under the dark varnish. Sorry if I'm coming over negative, just giving my well meant opinion.

I'm not trying to incite another "This is the best varnish/lacquer" debate, but seriously, if you haven't tried any brush applied products in recent years, they have come on in leaps and bounds. They flow out easily, don't leave brush marks, they self level, dry quickly, sand easily and take repeat coats quickly. I use Wilko Quick Dry varnish. You can get it in matt, satin and gloss, and in colours including very useful medium oak and antique pine. I swear by it and have had very good results using it. It's nothing like the Ronseal type poly finishes of old that drag on the brush, 'never' dry properly, and are a complete pain to get a good finish with, it's leagues better. Buy a small tin (£6 for 250ml) and brush it onto a scrap piece of wood?