Sealing teak with epoxy will safe you many coats of varnish to get that deep
lustre. Do wipe the teak with acetone beforehand and apply the epoxy just after
the acetone has dried off. This is for below deck applications. If you put on
epoxy before varnishing on an above deck part you *have* to keep up the
varnishing, frequently. If you let the sun break down the epoxy coating its a
lot more work to sand back and return the teak to bristol fashion than just
multiple plain varnish coats, in my experience.
Klaus

Cheshire wrote:

I notice that teak finishes often fail where the teak meets metal, because
water is able to infiltrate through the tiny unfinished cracks. It has been
suggested to me to apply a tiny bead of clear caulking on those edges, but I
think it would be difficult to achieve a satisfactory result (especially
with the five thumbs on my right hand.) I was wondering if an epoxy would
seal it up.

Also, I noticed one old post, where it was suggested that a thin epoxy coat
should be applied to the wood, before applying the finish. Is this a good
idea?

Thanks.