Floorboards: To varnish or not?

[Dorigen]

Does anyone have a suggestion how to treat teak and holly floorboards. Previously I have used a domestic water based varnish designed for interior domestic floors but I am not that impressed by the finish as it lacks luster and has no depth.
I have stripped it back to bare wood ( a long long and laborious task), and before I cover it again, I thought I would check with you others whether you have any suggestions. I had intended to apply 3 coats of epiphanes ( the first diluted) and then a final coat of rubbed effect or mat.
Is there any benefit in sealing first with epoxy?
All feed back gratefully received.

 

[dave_gibsea]

Took my floorboards back to bare wod and varnished them with 5 coats of 2-pack polyurethane. That was 15 years ago and they still look good.

 

[Talulah]

Ours have 7 coats of Epiphanes. (Gloss.) If you do want to use mat only do it on the last coat.
We gave a couple of weeks for the varnish to go hard. We then cut it back with wet and dry (wet) and polished it back up to a satin sheen. This gets rid of all the brush strokes and you end up with an excellent finish. Depending upon wether you want a mat, satin or gloss finish depends upon how much you polish back up the varnish.
View attachment 45510

 

[PCUK]

Burgess Wood Sealer designed for exterior use on boats. Gives a satin non-slip finish and lasts for years on interior floors. Dries in a few minutes and no brush marks.