GrizzlyBear
Have used epoxy as a base coat/sealer/absolute-water-barrier on stocks for years. Spent much time testing many finishes on walnut blocks and only two finishes actually stop water from getting into wood, epoxy and superglue.
Will do a superglue stock soon, but have much experience with epoxy 'til then.
I use slow-setting epoxy (G-1 and G-2 from Industrial Formulators is current favorite but have used many different brands blends and all slow-set epoxy will work except for the water-thinned stuff) for the open time and strength advantages.
I heat the stock in the oven to about 110F and apply epoxy by hand, starting with end grain areas and working as fast as I can. The air in the cooling wood shrinks and helps draw the epoxy in deeper and the viscosity is reduced by the temperature, also.
After sanding the cured epoxy an oil finish is applied. It looks exactly like an oil finish and repairs every bit as easily. It seals perfectly and is rugged. The epoxy adds depth a slurry-filled finish cannot begin to match.
Oil finishes should not have dust spec problems... Add finish heavily, let stand 10-15 minutes and wipe completely dry. After many coats a little sanding may be needed to correct a missed run or similar, but sanding between coats will likely take off too much because the coats are so thin.
I have typed out a ton of complete directions here to my system and the search function should help you find those.
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