Hi Pavel Palkenicz, and other listers: I'm new to this list, been lurking for a while, thought I'd put my two cents in to give you something to think about. I would not use the epoxy to finish the frame, it is thought but brittle and not very durable as a finish on a wood substrate. It would likely yellow and crack sooner than a more flexible finish. I would not even use the polyurethane finishes, though durable they too will crack eventually. A good grade of marine varnish, with a linseed oil base, would be much longer lasting. And it can be chemically stripped without damaging the wood when it comes time to remove it (not possible with the epoxy, it would have to be mechanically removed, and the first layer of wood with it). Even an oil based varnish would be more durable than the epoxy in this application, the advantage with the marine varnish (often sold as "spar varnish") is that it has UV inhibitors. Not really as much an issue with a kayak since it normally is stored indoors and the exposure to the sun is only during actual use. I think there is a misunderstanding about natural oil finishes, there is a notion that the synthetic finishes (epoxy, polyurethane, etc.) are more durable and this is not necessarily the case. The poly- finishes are harder, good for floors and table tops, but they will yellow, shrink and crack with age, and they are impossible to remove without damaging the underlying material. Natural oil finishes will last longer (except in high wear areas, like on floors) and will eventually yellow and become chemically unstable. That is they get all gummy and soft, though that makes it that much easier to chemically strip with risking damaging the wood. For floors, and table tops, and other areas of high wear, polyurethane are great. But for antique furniture, art work, all of my wood kayak frames (I build skin on frame kayaks), I use linseed oil based finishes. My favorite finish in Minwax "Antique Oil Finish" it yields a much nicer luster to the wood than you can ever get with a poly finish and economically priced. For the kayak frames, paddles and coaming I use Man-o-War Spar Varnish, though there are others I'm sure that will work fine. Hope this helps. Peter *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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