How do you find re-varnishing with an epoxy base? Using just a number of coats of ordinary varnish, it's easy to remove time-expired varnish using a heat gun, sand down and start again. Does the same trick work with an epoxy base?
Chandlers stock it - mainstream International product.
Yes, but of my two local chandlers, one didn't have it and the other is closed for their holidays! I have ordered some online, though, so thanks, all, for the suggestion; I really didn't want to go for a hard gloss varnish, for exactly the same reasons as post #16. I did think of linseed oil (which I like) - it's an oil that cross-links by oxidation to a 'gum/varnish' (actually sounds a bit like woodskin!), so wasn't sure of about longevity and recoating when exposed to marine elements.
I wasn't discounting Woodskin, but surely you look at the durability tables for timber you are coating. The question is where your cutoff is. Anyone who expects, say ash, to survive with a porous coating is nuts. It is however a traditional wood for tillers spreaders etc. I agree that mahogany is on the durable side, but you are doing better than me if you can buy it today. "African mahogany" is not mahogany. Nor is khaya, sapele or utile. Their durability is different and ill documented. Real mahogany rates in the 1-2 range, whereas most of today's substitutes are middling 3's. Douglas fir lurks in the fourish range, which would worry me if it wasn't sealed. Really what I was asking was whether Woodskin is a porous coating. I now understand that it is. I'd be happy to use it with a timber and environment that doesn't demand a sealed finish. My combings are, beyond question, Honduras mahogany, and are suffering from moisture penetration, so I'm suspicious. I have read the tests in umpteen mags and the graveyard timber tests. I have more faith in the timber specialists than the yachting mags to be honest.
Well, your first paragraph is at odds with the findings referred to in my posts above. I have used porous woodstains, mostly Sikkens Nova for 10 years or more on a variety of timbers - teak, iroko, mahogany and Douglas fir on a 50 year old boat that I have owned for 35 years. It has way outperformed any other coatings - the mast was last stripped about 12 years ago and has been coated in Sikkens with just one refresher in that time. It is in perfect condition, the paint film is still firmly attached with no cracking. The only downside is that the Sikkens has a heavy tint so looks muddy. I am in the process of stripping all the wood on the boat and using Woodskin, which I understand is a very similar formulation, but little tint and single pack. Just finished the boom and it looks great, as do the mahogany toerails, rubbing strakes and teak trim.