Testing Floor Finishes

I don't know if it happened staining the deck or slinging the new windows

around but somehow I end up with a dislocated sacroiliac joint--medical

term for "pain in the ass"--last weekend.  My chiropractor helped a little bit

but it took a few days of icing before it finally popped back in when I sat

up in bed on Friday.  Not a fun thing.

Aside from hobbling back and forth to work and sitting on the couch 

watching the World Series with ice packs, I wasn't able to get a lot done

except contemplate kitchen cabinets and do a few more floor samples.

Ever since I painted my bedroom floors Benjamin Moore Gray Owl,

I've wanted to paint more floors in the house.  Painted floors seem to

be very transitional and work well in both traditional and modern settings.

And a light painted floor makes it always feel like summer.

But, if you've ever had a painted floor, you'll know it's not very forgiving

in terms of showing dust, pet hair and miscellaneous pookies.

Sherry Hart's bedroom floors, photo Sherry Hart

Inspired by Loi Thai's post on Swedish floors and Sherry Hart's

bedroom floors, I set out to find some techniques for pickling,

bleaching, staining and liming that I might use to create a light-colored

floor that still has some texture and variation to hide crumbs.

photo:  Eleish Van Breems

I found a youtube video video featuring Rhonda Eleish and Edie Van Breems

of Eleish Van Breems design firm--recently seen on the "This Old House"

Cambridge modern Swedish project--that demonstrates pickling and liming floors

using Minwax and Briwax liming wax.  In my later research, neither Minwax

nor Briwax recommend using these products on floors and one of the designers

concedes the [tortuous] process must be repeated every year or two.  No thanks! 

In the Briwax on-line help forum I found a reference to using white grain filler

to get the limed look on floors.  But I can't seem to find it for sale anywhere.

I did a few google searches for white wood filler and found two for sale.
Timbermate and Goodfilla.  The consistency of Timbermate was putty-like
and it smelled a little like magic markers; Goodfilla was a little more paste-like
and a lot easier to work with.  Here are a few of my test pieces:

Please note that all of these samples are on white oak.

Here's a sample of Benjamin Moore's oil-based pickling stain on top versus

white wood filler on the bottom.  I used a putty knife to apply the white wood filler

and when it was dry, I lightly sanded the surface which leaves the wood filler

in the grain.  I immediately loved the effect of the white grain.  It almost looks

like wood that was painted and has worn back down to the natural wood.

But when I added a Varathane top coat, a lot of the effect seemed to dissolve away.

I wasn't sure if it was the water-based finish that dissolved the water-based wood filler so

tried using Benjamin Moore's oil-based pickling stain (no longer available) on the bottom

half to see if it preserved the wood filler in the grain.  It didn't work very well.

I tried bleaching the natural color of the oak using Savogran wood bleach.

It took a few coats of bleach to lighten the wood and it really raised the grain

of the wood.   I'm not convinced I want to go this route.

I tried using the stain I used on the back porch.  It also dissolved the grain filler

and after the debacle on the back porch, I'm not sure I want to give this a try in the house.

I thought I would try a few Minwax stains right out of the can.

This is Classic Gray.  Don't like it at all.  It seems very fake.

Minwax Limed Oak sitting on some of samples with

white grain filler.  Another awful stain.  It was thick and white

but none of the white penetrated into the wood.  There's nothing about

this that looks limed and I wonder if it was bad.

Minwax Weathered Oak.  It actually darkens the grain.   A friend of mine

said it reminded him of church.  Not a bad color  but it's too similar

to my other floors that are stained English Chestnut.  I don't think

it would be a good juxtaposition.

On the lower sample, I tried the Weathered Oak stain on white wood filler.

On the lower right, I tried tung oil on the white grain filler.  Again, it goes away.

Then I thought I would try Sherry Hart's method of applying a solution

of 50% paint (BM Aura, Icicle) and 50% water.  It looks a little

blue in the photo because it was cloudy outside but it looks good in person.

Quite white but with some wood grain and texture showing through.

On the upper piece, I wiped off the paint with a wet rag.

You can compare these with the white wood filler samples in the background.

Finally, I tried lightly sanding the painted sample from the

above photo which left the paint in the grain and 

then I adding a top coat of tung oil.  This most closely

imitates the sample of white grain filler with no top coat. 

I think I'll try doing a larger sample to see how it looks.