Varnish or epoxy resin?

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Nicholas123

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While merrily bodging my cabin hatch running epoxy resin round the seams I noticed that where I rubbed it over the surface with my finger it produced a fantastic brush mark free superb finish,anybody used it instead of varnish?
I suppose it would brake down over time with the expansion & contraction of the wood but up until that point it looks like a far superior finish.
 
Do everything you can to keep epoxy off your fingers - repeated skin contact can trigger a very nasty allergy. As others have said, it is not UV stable as a varnish.
 
jwilson said:
Do everything you can to keep epoxy off your fingers - repeated skin contact can trigger a very nasty allergy.
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+1. I assumed the finger in the OP's post was in a glove.

I've managed to give myself a mild case of epoxy sensitivity, and even that's not much fun. If I get any on me, the place it touched becomes red and itchy, the insides of my forearms (where I originally spilled lots of it) become red and itchy, and often some other random body part will also become red and itchy in solidarity. I still use it, but am more careful about protection, as I should have been in the first place. There are boatbuilders (or ex-boatbuilders) who can't be in the same building as an open pot of hardener.

Pete
 
Did my washboards a few years ago with epoxy, followed by several coats of varnish. They look far better, and have been much more durable than varnish alone.
 
The observation the OP makes re moisture movement is important. Wood finishes are formulated to be flexible enough to take account of the moisture movement of the timber and as others have said UV resistance is a key requirement for marine varnish. I would not use epoxy as a varnish.
 
Nicholas123 said:
While merrily bodging my cabin hatch running epoxy resin round the seams I noticed that where I rubbed it over the surface with my finger it produced a fantastic brush mark free superb finish,anybody used it instead of varnish?
I suppose it would brake down over time with the expansion & contraction of the wood but up until that point it looks like a far superior finish.
Click to expand...

Surprised you are considering using epoxy given your drive to minimise cost! There are epoxies formulated as finishes rather than adhesives but as others have said they do not like UV so need a UV resistant coating on top so end up vastly more expensive than other bright finishes. Commonly used on wood/epoxy hulls but rarely on trim or on deck.

BTW there is a useful article in this month's PBO on using the latest porous finishes I suggested you consider.
 
There is UV stable epoxy resin but it's not very common.There's also UV stable polyester resin.Normally epoxy resins degrade very quickly in sunlight.
 
Epoxy with varnish over it is a great finish for a racing dinghy that gets well covered up, not sure it's right for most yacht parts.
 
At the risk of thread hijack:
I am considering refinishing my dining table using thinned (west system) epoxy resin as a primer followed by 2 or more coats of international perfection (2 pot polyurethane varnish)
the table is rubber wood which is naturally white but with an Oak like growth pattern. It is stained walnut colour.
My thinking is that the resin will toughen the surface a little so that it won't dent so easily from dropped objects as the untreated rubber wood is quite soft.
I have done one chair seat using this method and it matches well for colour and seems to have created a durable finish.
Any opinions before i rip into the table surface?
Thanks
 
John the kiwi said:
At the risk of thread hijack:
I am considering refinishing my dining table using thinned (west system) epoxy resin as a primer followed by 2 or more coats of international perfection (2 pot polyurethane varnish)
the table is rubber wood which is naturally white but with an Oak like growth pattern. It is stained walnut colour.
My thinking is that the resin will toughen the surface a little so that it won't dent so easily from dropped objects as the untreated rubber wood is quite soft.
I have done one chair seat using this method and it matches well for colour and seems to have created a durable finish.
Any opinions before i rip into the table surface?
Thanks
Click to expand...
If you want to toughen the surface then sheathe the table with one layer of light glass cloth and apply several coats of epoxy until you can sand it flat without digging into the glass.Sanding between coats will ensure a flat surface.It'll become completely transparent (if yellowish)when overcoated with polyurethane varnish.The drawback of this system is that the edges will be rounded off but that may not be a problem.
 
Tranona said:
Surprised you are considering using epoxy given your drive to minimise cost! There are epoxies formulated as finishes rather than adhesives but as others have said they do not like UV so need a UV resistant coating on top so end up vastly more expensive than other bright finishes. Commonly used on wood/epoxy hulls but rarely on trim or on deck.

BTW there is a useful article in this month's PBO on using the latest porous finishes I suggested you consider.
Click to expand...

The epoxy resin I bought was one of those double syringe type configurations with a setting time of six minutes (so it said) & seemed to do a damn good job (better than the one they said took 20 minutes to set as far as I can see).One quid from "Family Bargains.":D

I have scraped down & oiled all my wash boards now (having first dyed them Indian rose wood) & they look super......Might look at the article you have mentioned just to see how money I have saved :D.
 
John the kiwi said:
At the risk of thread hijack:
I am considering refinishing my dining table using thinned (west system) epoxy resin as a primer followed by 2 or more coats of international perfection (2 pot polyurethane varnish)
the table is rubber wood which is naturally white but with an Oak like growth pattern. It is stained walnut colour.
My thinking is that the resin will toughen the surface a little so that it won't dent so easily from dropped objects as the untreated rubber wood is quite soft.
I have done one chair seat using this method and it matches well for colour and seems to have created a durable finish.
Any opinions before i rip into the table surface?
Thanks
Click to expand...

I'd just coat it with the stuff I mentioned if I were you.It did seem to produce a superb rock hard surface,why bother with varnish? Your not going to use it outside.(I might use the longer setting one to make sure I could cover it all in one go).Hope this helps.
 
Nicholas123 said:
The epoxy resin I bought was one of those double syringe type configurations with a setting time of six minutes (so it said) & seemed to do a damn good job (better than the one they said took 20 minutes to set as far as I can see).One quid from "Family Bargains.":D

I have scraped down & oiled all my wash boards now (having first dyed them Indian rose wood) & they look super......Might look at the article you have mentioned just to see how money I have saved :D.
Click to expand...

Make sure you report in 5 years time on how well your treatment has stood up to the elements!
 
Epoxy resins are applied to all sorts of timbers that will be exposed to direct sunlight,
the trick is use only varnishes with very high UV rating and apply at least 3 coats.

There are many examples of exposed timber hulls on power and sailing vessels thet have been treated this way and it lasts for many years.

As other have said epoxy is not UV stable, but the newer high UV filter varnishes work very well.

I plan to sand and epoxy coat the huge table in the saloon of our Cat this year, still looks good but not great, was last done about 7 years ago with only two coats of high UV stable varnish over epoxy. It will get three coats this time.

Good luck and fair winds. :)
 
oldsaltoz said:
Epoxy resins are applied to all sorts of timbers that will be exposed to direct sunlight,
the trick is use only varnishes with very high UV rating and apply at least 3 coats.

There are many examples of exposed timber hulls on power and sailing vessels thet have been treated this way and it lasts for many years.

As other have said epoxy is not UV stable, but the newer high UV filter varnishes work very well.

I plan to sand and epoxy coat the huge table in the saloon of our Cat this year, still looks good but not great, was last done about 7 years ago with only two coats of high UV stable varnish over epoxy. It will get three coats this time.

Good luck and fair winds. :)
Click to expand...

So that's 7 years with epoxy as opposed to how many do you reckon with just that high ultra violet varnish? (not that I'm really planning to do anything different now I'm into this dying & oiling wood low maintenance style but I am curious).
 
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