Tung Oil Finish on Pine Floor
Does anyone have a floor finished with Tung Oil? I have several pieces of furniture finished with it and have heard you can use it to finish wood floors as well. Would love to hear about other people’s experience with this.
Does anyone have a floor finished with Tung Oil? I have several pieces of furniture finished with it and have heard you can use it to finish wood floors as well. Would love to hear about other people’s experience with this.
sutherlandwelles.com – the only tung oil I use.
The beauty of tung oil is that it is easy to maintain and it is a natural penetrating finish (unlike polyuretanes which are topical, and look like you wrapped your floor in plastic). Floors finished in tung oil look more like furniture than flooring. Personally, I like the smell of tung oil- it’s quite nutty, with a hint of sage.
We have used it both on our mesquite floor as well as our stripped white pine shutters. Like it a lot as you feel the wood grain under feet and it is relatively non-toxic to apply (although you do still need some ventilation). It does wear off in high traffic areas & needs periodic reapplication which we should do more of but haven’t done much yet. Reapplication is easy as is spot repair for scratches. That said, a couple of caveats
– given it doesn’t create much of a layer barrier (unlike poly) it doesn’t protect the floor as well. Mesquite is a very hard wood so we aren’t worried by this on the floor but pine may suffer more because it is softer. We have also considered wax on top of the tung oil but haven’t had time to try this yet.
– like anything, it changes the colour of the untreated wood after application (and a little more with sun over time).
I would suggest you order a sample & try it out.
FYI here is a link to an application guide:
http://www.mesquitefloors.com/floorfinishinginstructions.html