Old and new

The plain table ( I call Monday morning) is older. The spalted one(Friday Night) just emerged from the shop. I guess I would call the spalted beech as a variation on a theme. Mostly mortise and tenon construction.  Taper ed legs, chamfered tops. Clear gloss polyurethane finish.  The spalted birch was harder to work with because parts of the wood were quite soft. That made getting clean smooth surfaces harder. Also, beech soaked up the poly. Should have used a sanding sealer: or other prep?