I've cut out two of the five plywood cross sections for my interpretation of Brian Schulz's F1 with Tom Yost's construction technique and will have the rest finished by the end of the night. In a total lapse of judgment, I ended up buying Birch "cabinet grade" plywood rather than exterior grade. (It was too hard to resist the beautiful veneer at a much lower price!)

My logic at the time went something like "I'll slather on some epoxy to seal it, and get a the beauty and thickness of this wood for cheap." I'm wondering how exactly I should go about sealing it though. Epoxy would probably be ideal, but it's expensive and I can easily imagine the low density end grain drinking up a few coats. Is there something which would work as well but is a lot cheaper? I don't really have any experience with wood finishes. I'm thinking maybe a small can of that clear hard wood finish could suffice? It might be called "polycrylic" or something. Is there a hardware store chemical which would seal as well as epoxy? If it comes down to it, I'll take superior protection over price, but if they basically perform the same, I'll save those pennies.

Thanks,

Mike Collins