Exterior Natural Wood Finish with No Blush Epoxy  (tm) and Marine Spar Varnish

This application is boat windows, but could also be done on exterior door, table, bar top

  "(5/2019) Paul;

Attached is a picture of two of the 14 frames I have made for the windows and door of my tugboat (Candu-EZ 14'3" model) named Electra. I wanted to share with you my excitement regarding the use of Progressive Polymers No Blush Epoxy as a sanding sealer/stain. Here is my process in the event that you would want to share it with others.

Substrate is african mahogany.

Final sand with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth finish, wipe with alcohol dampened cloth or paper towel and remove dust with tack rag.

Mix No Blush Epoxy according to weight ratio of 1 part resin to 0.42 part standard hardner (I don't recommend the fast hardener for reasons that will appear later).

Add alcohol based stain (Behlen Solar LuxTM NGR Medium-Brown Mahogany Stain) 25% W/W and mix well.

Apply with inexpensive chip brush and brush out well. Caution: be sure that the finish is brushed out well to avoid runs and "edge lips", which are hard to remove without removing more wood due to the epoxy base.

Sand lightly with 220 grit and reapply as necessary, (i.e., missed spots or areas in which the sandpaper may have removed too much color).

The next step will be the application of Varnish to the tune of about 7 coats (vendor note: most folks would apply 1 - 3 coats of varnish - besides the Basic No Blush (with bubble breakers) epoxy, we also sell India Spar Varnish) -- (but less than what would be needed if not epoxy sealer were used)."

Additional Customer Notes and Comments

"Thinning the "No Blush" with alcohol based stain works well in this case. Initially, I used both 91% Isopropyl alcohol along with the stain as a thinner, but I found the Isopropyl alcohol to be unnecessary for the depth of color that I desired.

I used some wood filler to deal with some imperfections in my wood routing techniques. While the stain/epoxy mixture did color them, it did not do so at the same intensity as the wood itself. In retrospect, i believe the better solution would be to leave the imperfections alone (smooth them of course) and fill them with stain filler stix that Behlen also has in corresponding colors.

Using an alcohol based stain as a thinner for the epoxy appears to have some impact on the thinning duration (i.e. the mixture thickens over time). This appears to be a function of the relatively rapid evaporation of the alcohol which has the effect of an increase in viscosity over a a period of 15 minutes or so. As a result, the color impact of the mixture becomes somewhat more intense. Therefore, I recommend keeping the batch size small, probably no more than 3 oz (liquid measure) total volume at a time. In this way, the color consistency was very good and given the spreadability of the mixture, coverage was adequate to prevent slowing down the staining/sealing process of a number of the frames pictured at one time.

Again, thank you for your support and your knowledge AND for a great product." - BOB  5/19

Other Options:  Instead of the honey thick, solvent free, Basic No Blush epoxy, the same results could be had using our solvent free, thinner Low V epoxy or even our solvent based, water thin, ESP 155 epoxy sealer (not for sale in California). Read about these product options in our Favorites Page. - These options are all available because we are a technical coatings/epoxy company and not a single product / single industry marketing company.