My last boat , a gaffer had a hollow American spruce mast and spars made by a man in Bristol. Originally it was varnished but after 3 years I scraped it back to the wood and used garden furniture oil on it with great success. (all the experts having convulsions now

) My rigging was 8mm 6 strand galvanised, with a rope heart is best as it holds the oil and prevents rust from inside out. I used that because I could splice it round thimbles easily. You can coat the wire rigging to help preserve it. I used a mix of boiled linseed oil, any old clear varnish (not the water soluble type) and black gloss paint. A little drop of white spirit will help if you need to thin it. Paint it on with an old brush and it dries to a hard shiny finish. My rigging was still in good nick after 10 years. Scrape the 'paint' off and the wire was shiny underneath. Painted once a year it survived 2 Med cruises and a Trans Atlantic, and cost about a third of the price of a stainless rig. If you don't mind me suggesting? Give the yachtie shops a wide berth, I bought my wire in a 100 metre roll from a commercial cargo handling company with heart thimbles and bottle screws at the same time.