The finish is wipe-on poly. On this particular piece, it's actually only one colour with the underlying colour and pattern of the wood producing most of the effect.
I mostly use a boring bar set-up I purchased from Oneway. It uses a removable teardrop shaped cutter. I fitted it with a homemade laser pointer system which works pretty well. Where this doesn't reach (around corners near the top of certain forms), I use a bent neck tool.
Bruce
