Since my deck had
: cracked and I was told to put on a sealer layer of epoxy to hold it all
: together and that started me on the method of sealing the wood first with
: epoxy. I put this on with a 3" foam roller and had a lot of bubbles.
: I got rid of them by putting my finger on the roller to stop it from
: turning and drug it across the epoxy and the bubbles just dissapeared.

Hi John

Sorry I can't give you any solid advice on the rest. But I've been wondering about your discovery of stopping the roller. As a former signmaker, one of the tricks I used to coat out plywood signfaces for a glass smooth finish, was to pour a bunch of paint on the panel, roll it in all directions with a foam roller, then insert a 16d nail in a pre-dilled hole in the plastic end of the roller so that the head of the nail hooked the roller frame and prevented the roller from turning. Then very lightly pull the non-turning roller over the fresh surface, and like magic no more bubbles! Had to be fast though, some of that sign paint took an initial tack very quickly.

The point is, I've been wondering if anybody had tried this method for pre-coat or varnish for that matter?

best regards
ron