Whenever you put an almost no dollars limit on what you want to do, that limits what you can do. I've a couple of Marine finish products that I use on woods that I dye and therefore can't sand afterwards, Teak Oil and Liquid Plastic, but would run at least $24.00 down here in the 48. Rather than try and use either a urethane varnish or "marine" varnish, one of the various hard floor finishes work much better. Again unless you can find a small can or knows someone who'll loan you a dab, a large can may be fairly expensive up there. No need to soak the wood before hand, just keep applying until the wood doesn't soak up anymore, then wait at least a week before sanding and buffing(don't care WHAT the instructions on the can say). Finally, there's a finish I,and an awful lot of other knifemakers, apply as a sealer and finish enhancer, and that's plain ol super glue. I use it as a final finish on micarta, dymondwood, stabilized wood and wood that I haven't dyed. A number of other knifemakers use it on Ivory, bone--anything porous. To apply it, finish your knife handle/tang down to whatever the last grit you're using; in my case that's usually either 1200# or 1500#. At this point you can apply a finish beforehand such as varnish/floor finish before you apply the superglue, but its not necessary..If you do apply one, let it dry for a week as I said before applying the glue. Apply two or three thin coats of super glue; it depends on how deeply it soaks into the wood, You want to end up with a coat covering the top, but you don't want it to get so thick it'll build up over the "edges" of your work, especially around the tang area. Some folks use lint free photographers wipes to apply it; I just use a clean finger then have fun peeling it off with a razor afterwards. Don't use rubber gloves. Super glue reacts kinda violently with rubber and generates a lot of heat in the process. If you do use them, have someone standing by with a camcorder. Similarly, the thin plastic throw away types also seem to disolve and add a thin white color to your finish that you surely don't want. Also, the fumes from super glue are a very powerfult eye irritant; use in a well ventilated room and try to keep your face off to one side when spreading the stuff. Don't try and smooth the finish between coats, that will also discolor the final finish. Usually two or three coats is enough, unless the material's really porous. Let dry at least 24 hours before sanding. If you use more than three coats, allow one extra day for each coat. Once it's dry, go to the last grit you used and simply sand it down till everything's even and you can't see any scratches; then buff/polish it. Makes for a beautiful, tough, waterproof finish. You may have to use a small sanding block to get it down; the stuff's really hard once it drys. Sand it off your tang, if you're doing a full tang blade. One thing, if you're doing a knife that has a guard or bolster, use masking tape to keep the glue off them and remove the tape once you're done applying the glue. I did this to several of my kitchen knives after reading about it, as practice before I tried it on my"regular" blades, and several years later, the handles are still in great shape. One further note, super glue tends to start softening at around 300 degrees F, and dishwashers can briefly get that hot if you use the hotdry cycle, so you need to be careful there. I NEVER put any knife in the washer. They get washed/dried separately, an put in their own drawer. The whole thing probably sounds more complicated than it is; takes me about 5 minutes to apply two coats to a knife and about 25/30 minutes to sand/polish the thing after waiting a day for it to dry.
