I agree completely with this post. I used West black epoxy dye to make a black coaming ring, and it worked great. Also I mixed a bit of the same black dye with my spar varnish and ended up with a very glossy black coaming.

: If you're just using the graphite just for color, consider using a
: pigment made for tinting epoxy and polyester gelcoat. It can be
: much cheaper than the powder and it's a much stronger color
: changer. It takes much more of the powder to get the same level
: of opaqueness without thickening the resin. for the powder it's
: best to follow the directions on the can. If you put in too much
: of the powder it will reduce the strength of your epoxy. It can
: also make the mix thicker than you want. Use the tinted epoxy
: for the initial seal coat and then for the fill coats. Only use
: neat (ie untinted) epoxy for wetting out the cloth. If it's
: tinted you'll have a much harder time telling when the cloth is
: fully wet out. If your graphite will be a final wearing surface
: (ie a hull bottom or cockpit interior) add some fumed silica
: (aerosil/cabosil) to the mix. About 5-10% by volume makes a nice
: mix. It really toughens up the surface (It also makes it really
: hard to sand).