Since I was off from work over the holidays, I picked up the stain to redo the front of the doors and drawers. I talked with the stain guy and he suggested that I do not use a wipe-on poly. He indicated that the poly would reactivate (re-wet) the stain and I would remove some as I wiped on the poly. With my just okay DIYer mindset, I believed that doing the same thing, I will get a different result. I reluctantly switched to a brush-on poly.
I had all the pieces ready to stain. I applied the newly formulated stain on the first door panel. I immediately saw that the stain was much darker. Concerned that the stain guy might have went to far the other way, I stopped at one piece. I waited the 5 minutes that he suggested, before wiping away the excess stain. I brought the door panel upstairs to compare it to the other cabinet doors. The stain did not have the yellow or golden color in it that the old doors had, but it definitely was a closer match than before. I went back downstairs, mildly pleased, to finish the rest of the pieces.
I applied the brush-on poly the next day and the stain color did not change. The satin finish brush-on poly went on glossy so I could see any parts I might have missed. The next day, I noticed irregularities in the surface of the pieces, like bubbles or chunks of hard poly. I was somewhat concerned, but with a good sanding of 220 grit sandpaper, I would remove them before I applied my next coat. The next day, I had the same result, so again, I sanded them away.
The following day after I finished my third coat of poly, I was ready to assemble the doors. Before assembly, I again went up the stairs with the doors to check them out in their cabinet opening. What I saw next was very disappointing. I still had bumps all over the doors. Simply, the doors looked like crap.
I decided that I would sand down the bumps again and apply a coat of wipe-on poly. No worries about removing any stain, the doors had 3 coats of poly already on them. Later that day I would assemble the doors.