Dan, when I use Polyurethane as a finish it has a tendency to turn white color woods yellow, so I use take White Acrylic paint and water it down enough to allow the grain to still show through and paint the piece of wood I?m working with and hopefully it stays White much longer.
Until they came out with a water-base polycrylic, polyurethane is all I used, so It became a habit to paint the wood and I guess that?s the reason I still do.
I prefer to use Polyurethane, unless I am working on a piece where there is a lot of light color woods, because it brings out the colors more, although I have used Deft, Clear Wood Finish, Satin on several recent Intarsia's and like it a lot. It's a Lacquer and dries much faster, so I can give all the coats it needs in one day.