Which waterlox? They make at least 3 different finishes, 2 of which I have tried, and they come out and behave VERY differently. I'm no pro, but hopefully my limited experience is helpful.
The Waterlox original finish is the hardest finish I have ever used--figures, it's a tung oil-modified urethane designed for hardwood floors. This stuff hardens like concrete. I love the stuff for pore filling, but it's a bit shinier if you let it build up at all. My favorite finish involves this waterlox thinned at least 50:50 (if not more) as a sealer and for pore-filling, then sanded all the way to the wood with water. The water allows you to see any spots where there is even a tiny bit of finish left on the surface, simply wipe off the grey goo and you can easily see where there's finish left on the top and re-sand with water, etc. Any spot of finish left on the surface, no matter how tiny or thin, after topcoating WILL wind up glossy in my experience. After this, I hand-rub in a few coats of thinned finish, let it sit for a few weeks to fully harden and gently rub it out with oil/rottenstone. The more you build up the top coats, the glossier it will be and the more waterproof it will be. 3-4 topcoats looks great but is too thin to wear well on a field gun for me. I used 5-8 topcoats on the last few and find it a good middle ground between soft luster and durability/water-protection.
No matter the finish I have tried, if i build it up more than this and then rub it out I can always see the faint scratching from the rub-out as a "haze" on the finish and it bugs me (although apparently not many others). This seems to be more visible on darker colored wood like Black Walnut.
Mike Campbell has used the waterlox satin a number of times, and his stocks looked great--although I found this stuff to be incredibly difficult to get a good finish with on the one gun I tried with it--I ended up sanding it off and using the above method.
I'm no pro, so my experience is limited, but hope this is helpful.
