In the recent years I have seen retailers and rustic furniture builders touting on their furniture such as dining tables, end tables, coffee tables, beds and more, no finish. No, seriously No finish! Although at first glance it might seem cool being left natural and all. However, I deeply disagree with this method.
As a furniture craftsman and the leader of our manufacturing facility, our experience has shown that unsealed furniture only leads to a poor quality product long term. From warp-age, cracking, water rings, cleaning issues to splintering just to name a few issues that you might want to consider.
In addition, stains and clear coat sealers bring out the grain and beauty of the wood. Years ago I started working with Reclaimed wood aka barnwood, I simply stained it and finalized it with a good furniture wax. Well I was not pleased when I started seeing it quickly retain water rings, crack and gain a super dry look. After this, we now stain and seal our furniture with professional products. If we are going for a natural look on Reclaimed wood, we may skip the staining and simply add a non gloss sealer.
The great thing about our final product is that the clear coat is super durable, smooth, scratch and moisture resistant not to mention way more stable.