Untreated pine furniture - how to treat?

[FrancesFlute]

I recently purchased some new furniture for DS1's bedroom. It was pretty cheap and is untreated pine. It feels slightly rough to the touch. We have a bedside table, wardrobe and chest of drawers. I'd really like to protect the surfaces at the bare minimum of the table and drawers - possible DS will have water bottles etc. on and he is 3 so not careful. I mainly want to avoid water marks, stains and be able to clean it. At the moment it feels like if I were to polish with a duster and polish it would snag. What can I use? I've never treated any kind of furniture before so I really am clueless. Would it stain the colour of the wood? Is sanding beforehand inevitable?

Thanks

A good treat for pine furniture would be to take it to the zoo for the day.

Someone who writes about wood painting/staining (Kevin Jan Bonner) said of varnish "the colour when wet, is the coiour you'll get"
So you can try wetting a bit and see what it looks like.

give it a light sand with wire wool or fine paper....use a water based acrylic varnish....2 coats...sand lightly inbetween coats....dont use any oil based / polyrurathane stuff....it stinks, takes days to dry and after a few years the wood goes a horrible orange....from experience...!!

Thanks @TwoLeftSocksWithHoles. That's a reasonable idea - I could wet a small spot on the back to check colour.

Brilliant, will look that kind of varnish up, @earsup, thank you that'd just what I needed. Have lots of wire wool as DH loves scrubbing big dishes with them and always buys a new pack every time as he doesn't look for the old one before!

There is an OSMO oil that has UV protection (have a look on the website) - it gives it a very very slight pale white tint and the UV protection protects against yellowing.

I sanded a pine table and used that as I liked a light pine (Scandinavian) look.

You have to do a few coatings and reapply once in a while (depending how much you clean!)

Re, sanding, look up sanding pine - I think I did a sand with 120 grit moving up to 220, I can’t remember exactly- but the trick is to sand with a lower number (rougher) moving to a higher number (which gives a finer, smooth finish).

Wiping with a very slightly damp cloth in between, brushing off excess dust first.

Don't use scouring pads! Wire wool is very fine.

I use black bison wax on my untreated oak. You could also use Danish oil or finishing oil instead, or varnish as others suggested.

As others said you'll need to sand it first with a fine sandpaper or wire wool, to get it nice and smooth.

When sanding, make sure you work along the grain (i.e. move the pad/sanding paper in direction of the wood grain of each wooden panel) to avoid bad scratch marks. Sanding sounds daunting but you probably only need to go over the parts that feel slightly 'furry' (in order to 'de-nib' them) and it will only take a few passes over.

Vacuum or wipe the sanded surfaces with a ligthly damp cloth to remove the sanding dust before applying the finishing product.

Sorry for late replies, I have a 6 week old and it's a bit manic!
Thanks for all extra tips, especially about the sanding. 'Furry' is exactly the right word to describe it @NoIdeasForWittyNickname!

I'll have a look at the oils too @fitzbilly cheers. I imagine they'll be less smelly than varnish? Going to try to get to a Homebase or B&Q over weekend. Such an exciting trip for baby!