first things first. Wax and water are bare woods enemies, I am continually amazed by how many people still wax their wood with all of the products that are out today. I wipe start by cleaning the surface, 100% mineral spirits, or paint thinner that contains a hundred percent mineral spirts on a lint free cotton cloth should do the trick. next is to remove the finish thats on there, you can sand or strip, and if you know what the clear coat is the latter should generally be easier on a project like that, the "golden oak color" is generally subjective but a brush-on, wipe-off stain works well (minwax has a stain with that color name that works well.) minwax also has a product called wipe-on poly which is a very thin, very eay product to apply. for the record minwax has a 1-800 number which i have found to be very helpful in the past, I was just staining an old louisville slugger and I called them up, talked to a fellow named jim who gave me some pointers that I had not thought of, just an idea.