Clever piece of writing by the author. I'm confused by forum advice, often. The question about using epoxy beneath varnish always confuses me.Here's an article from the latest issue of Epoxyworks published by West System.
https://epoxyworks.com/index.php/online-epoxy-forums/
There are many forum experts that swear by it. I use epoxy often for an adhesive, but as a coating, I'm just not sure about it's worth vs it's drawbacks (extra sanding, difficult removal).
"Would it hurt if he were to use a penetrating epoxy as a primer, assuming he let it cure for a good 72 hours to make sure all the solvents evaporated, then sanded the surface before applying varnish?" a poster asks.
The 20+ year veteran at Gudgeon replied to no one but us:
No, probably not.