i built a stand back in feburary, i poly'ed the frame, and it took about 3days for the smell to dissipate from my garage. then around march i skinned and stained it (with minwax's polyshade's) and after 4days of staining (roughly 2coats a day) it took about a solid business week (5days) for the smell to leave, around day number 4-5 i started leaving my garage door open.. not sure if it helped, but i believe it did.
i am not 100% sure but, the time it takes for the smell to leave, is dependent on how many coats were applied and what sort of stain it is. in my case polyshades is a stain and polyurthane finish in 1 can, so it should take a little longer to fully cure, then just plain old stain. hope this helps.