It seems this is a never-ending topic, and I'm sure very boring for long-time posters. I'm looking for *the peeerffeeeect finiiiiiish*! One that has the great hand feel of tung oil, but the hardness afforded by epoxy. I've made on paddle that felt amazing with just spirit line tung blend, but I chipped it on the first trip -_- I also have some west system 105/207.

I found on the woodenboat forums a suggestion that epoxy as the first coat, sanded back down to the wood, and then with an oil finish as usual on top would be a great combination of hardness and feel. Does anyone have experience with such a technique? The idea I guess is to get the epoxy into the grain, but off the surface. Would some UV protection for the epoxy be a necessity in this case? If so, wouldn't the varnish kind of ruin the potential feel of the wood?

Here's the aforementioned discussion: http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?3996-Epoxy-over-oil-based-stains