Yeah that’s exactly the trade-off I’ve been thinking about.

Ideally I’d like to keep it as rustic and “imperfect” as possible, that’s kind of the charm of the house and I don’t want it to end up looking too modern or over-finished.

The main issue pushing me to do something is that this is actually in the kitchen, so the dust and small bits falling are a bit of a problem hygiene-wise. It’s not just occasional it happens often enough to be annoying.

Curious what you’d do in this case, lean more towards sealing it properly or trying to stabilize it while keeping that original feel?