We have just sanded all the floors in our new old house. The downstairs is oak, with the upstairs and kitchen being pine. Can you use tung oil as a finish for flooring? If so, any particular brand to use and how do you apply it?

Thanks,

 

Marie,
Tung oil is mostly used for certain furniture items and probably will not protect a floor. Your best bet will most likely be the standard polyurethane finishes. A little more on tung oil: most (but not all) sold are really only a thinned down poly which can be wiped on. This is the main reason it won't adequately protect a floor. It would take many many coats to equal one poly coat.

 

Here's a different view--I like tung oil! Eversince I refinished my first gunstock with the stuff. Try putting poly on a gun stock then take it out in the weather for years and years--I bet it would'nt last one year. It's not for everthing--I used poly on my new kith cabs. Tung oil is tung oil(a product of nature)--not thinned poly! See my last post on floor finishes--McClosky's "Gym seal" is a modified tung oil based floor finish--and has served my hardwoods well--my grandfather used this stuff 50 years ago and his floors still look good! Yes it takes at least three coats and takes forever to dry--but its worth it!

 

Marie and Redneck,
Sure, real tung oil is from nature, however, very few manufacturers actually use true tung oil. Some even substitute soybean oil. Even that very popular brand furniture finish quoting the "rubbed on finish" is a thinned poly. The McCloskey or Waterlux gym finishes are both poly varnishes with added tung oil to help eliminate cracking. Either one should suffice.

 

What do you think about applying that oil to pine floors.We also have a large dog and yes he has nails that I try and keep trimmed. I have just prepared the sub floor(got all the squeaks out) and the better half is deciding on what width of flooring she wants.
Tim

 

Tim,
The dog will do a number on just about any wood floor, but unfortunately pine will be the softest. You might want to consider a harder wood, oak, maple, hickory. The above two polyurethane are good hard finishes for normal wear. Have you considered a pine look alike in the laminates?

 

Fewalt, we have looked at other types of wood floors etc. We currently we have 1x6 cedar wainscotting with lots of knots in it.Hence the reason we want the pine floor.We live in the country and have a country home.We have tried samples of different types of woods including laminets. But the pine adds a "softness" to the room that we want.
Tim