Water based poly over oil based stain - can you?

While finishing my new pine ottoman tray I was faced with a predicament: The only stain I liked was Minwax Wood Finish Classic Gray 271 and the only polyurethane I had was Minwax Water Based Wipe-On Poly. I really like the poly and wanted to use the stain/poly combination on several pieces so I had to find out if it would work.

Research

I found a post on DoItYourself.com that supposedly came from Minwax. It was about floors, but I figured if it worked on floors that take so much abuse, it would work on my tray.

I received this response from Minwax…
SUBJECT: Minwax Water Based Polyurethane Over Minwax Wood Finish Stains

You may apply the Minwax Water Based Polyurethane over a fully cured Minwax Wood Finish Stain (oil-based). Please use the following guidelines:

To ensure the color fastness of Minwax Wood Finish prior to applying Minwax Water-Based Polyurethane:
1.) Allow final coat of stain to dry 8-24 hours (Dry time is affected by your ventilation, temperature, and relative humidity).
2.) Wipe down the stained surface using a soft, lint-free cloth dampened with 100% pure mineral spirits. If the stain is cured and inactive, the mineral spirits will not affect the color. You should not have any color pick-up onto the cloth. The mineral spirits will remove any active/excess stain from surface and help the stain to cure out.
3.) Allow the mineral spirits to evaporate/flash off the surface.

Once the stain color is set and cured (passed the color-fast test), apply 3 coats of the Minwax Water Based Polyurethane per label directions.

Sincerely,
Consumer Affairs

The test

I did as the post suggested — I allowed the tray to dry overnight and then used a microfiber cloth to wipe it down with mineral spirits. Again as suggested, I allowed it to “evaporate/flash” for a couple hours. My cloth had picked up just a tiny amount of color so I thought it was okay to go ahead with the poly.

Tray after “flashing” with mineral spirits

The results

The poly went on over the oil based stain beautifully. I put on 3 thin coats, of course this worked out to 6 coats since I had to do the bottom and then the top, attached the handles and am very pleased with the finished tray. The satin poly gave it a really nice finish and feels rock solid over the oil based stain.