I guess I'm one of the people Bill speaks of[:I]; I like the 'natural' look of the wood after the initial finish wears, and all finishes will eventually wear, even laquer. Two caveats: the finish should wear evenly and the wood under the finish should look good enough to stand on its own without a shiny finish. I'm pretty sure that laquer won't wear evenly. The rosewoods and burls generally fill the bill of 'looking good' but they are pricey. Cocobolo is $60bf where I live. However, that's generally the quality of wood I use for pens that I sell or give to friends, and my little 'card' explains the finish, it's upkeep and limitations.
I've put straight laquer on a few pens using Bill's application method, which he kindly explained, and his brand of laquer. It took about as long to apply as the friction polish but a bit more fiddly. I didn't like the result so I 'turned' it off. I guess when it comes to preferred finishes, one size does not fit all[
].
I guess for some wood you just would not like the finish to come off too soon[
]. On those I suggest friction polish as a sanding sealer then laquer. I've tried this on a few canarywood pens and the results are quite good, a deeper shine than either one by itself. Besides, I have a quart of very expensive laquer to use up[
].