Recently Ellen asked about 'finishing" furniture and green choices. This area of furniture is definitely "emerging green". By that I mean that there are no hard and fast "green" answers. More research and development has to be done.
Some small furniture makers use an oil/wax emollient. The down side of this is that the wood is not really protected from moisture (glass rings) and not hard enough that hot sunlight doesn't soften the finish. Eliminating poly-urethanes and nitrocellulose lacquers as non-"green" leaves you with pre catalyzed lacquers and varnishes and the water based lacquers.
The general "Green" think out there prefers the water based lacquers (due to low VOC with little off gassing) but they have some inherent problems that need to be addressed before they are universally accepted. They dry very hard quickly and are tough but they can scratch and if that happens they cannot be touched up but need to be stripped off with nasty chemicals and the finish re applied. They tend to "blush" (a pinky/purple color) on certain types of wood and with cooler or moister weather/shop conditions. Also they are thinner and can run easier on vertical surfaces causing "sags" in the finish.
The pre catalyzed varnishes and lacquers have low VOC with some temporary off gassing. They can be tough but if a scratch happens they can be fixed because the touch up will meld into the original layers of finish. They don't have the "blushing" problem. These are frequently the choice of many professionals.
Holly Barbo
Barbo Furniture
Bellingham, WA
www.barbofurniture.com
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