wax or polyurethane!

willem asks:

>We need to refinish the hardwood floors. The sanding has been done. I
>am wondering about using wax instead of polyurethane for the
>following reasons.
>One can redo a high traffic area and other problematic areas easily by
>applying wax and buffing instead of redoing the whole floor with
>polyurethane. It seems that it will require more regular maintaince
>with wax, but it is less disruptive than getting all the furniture out
>every 7 years to redo the whole floor. Besides, wax looks nice.
Wax will requier re-doing almost weekly if used as the only finish. If your
floors wear enough using poly to require finishing every 7 years, forget wax as
a finish.

>So, my requests are:
>a) Opinions pro and contra wax.
Wax is not a finish. It is a polish and helps give the finish light protection.

>b) What kind of wax?
See above.

>c) Stain the floor first or apply the wax to unstained wood? If stain
>is desirable, what stain? Minwax Woodsheen?
Once you wax it, forget about staining it.

>d) Where do you get wax? It seems that Johnson paste wax is not made
>anymore.
Look in your grocery store.

Charlie Self
"To create man was a quaint and original idea, but to add the sheep was
tautology." Mark Twain's Notebook

http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/myhomepage/business.html

In article <[email protected]>,
willem <[email protected]> wrote:
>We need to refinish the hardwood floors. The sanding has been done. I
>am wondering about using wax instead of polyurethane for the
>following reasons.
>One can redo a high traffic area and other problematic areas easily by
>applying wax and buffing instead of redoing the whole floor with
>polyurethane. It seems that it will require more regular maintaince
>with wax, but it is less disruptive than getting all the furniture out
>every 7 years to redo the whole floor. Besides, wax looks nice.
>So, my requests are:
>a) Opinions pro and contra wax.
>b) What kind of wax?
>c) Stain the floor first or apply the wax to unstained wood? If stain
>is desirable, what stain? Minwax Woodsheen?
>d) Where do you get wax? It seems that Johnson paste wax is not made
>anymore.

See the current "Popular Woodworking" for a fairly informed discussion of
what was is, and is not, good for.

For a floor, you *really* want something highly protective down _first_.
a good alkyd varnish, or gloss polyurethane (gloss is harder than the
less shiny variants).

*THEN* you put wax on. What kind? "Floor wax" aka "wax for wood floors".

Johnsons paste wax is still available in the U.S., unavailable in Canada,
however. Look for something with "Carnuba" wax -- it's the hardest variety.

Sears used to sell a good _liquid_ floor wax -- we used it regularly on
a finished concrete floor. I'd tend to be somewhat hesitant to use liquid
preparations on wood floors, unless I was sure there was a _good_ seal-coat
don first.

Wax offers no protection. You will be redoing the wax daily if you walk on
the floor. Wax is only going to make the floor shine until it gets walked
on.

That is an easy one. I'll just give you the facts and you can take it from
there.

On a protection scale of 1 to 10 you are talking the extreme ends for
commonly available finishes.

Wax protection = 0 (yes, I know that is less then 1) ALL waxes.
Poly protection = 10 (well, maybe 8 1/2 - 9)

Of course you could consider a curing oil, linseed, tung, or Danish. I
wouldn't, but, then again, it isn't my floor.



--
Mike G.
[email protected]
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"willem" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> We need to refinish the hardwood floors. The sanding has been done. I
> am wondering about using wax instead of polyurethane for the
> following reasons.
> One can redo a high traffic area and other problematic areas easily by
> applying wax and buffing instead of redoing the whole floor with
> polyurethane. It seems that it will require more regular maintaince
> with wax, but it is less disruptive than getting all the furniture out
> every 7 years to redo the whole floor. Besides, wax looks nice.
> So, my requests are:
> a) Opinions pro and contra wax.
> b) What kind of wax?
> c) Stain the floor first or apply the wax to unstained wood? If stain
> is desirable, what stain? Minwax Woodsheen?
> d) Where do you get wax? It seems that Johnson paste wax is not made
> anymore.