That is always my fear with Poly. Not a huge fan either.
I used a very thin coat of the water based poly, satin finish, wiped on. Mostly to prevent fingerprint oils from leaving a stain on the wood. (I didn't use oil-based, because I didn't want the walnut to match my kitchen butcherblock counter table). Thankfully it doesn't look plastic, and the wood veneer still felt slightly grainy. I polished with 400grit sandpaper after it dried to knock down the grain raising.
I forgot to mention that we get contact cement in slow and fast setting grades here, the slow one allows some manipulation of the job, faster adhesion than PVA, so carpenters like it, they are able to work faster.
See if you get that in your area, might be suitable for your work.
See if you get that in your area, might be suitable for your work.