apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

When I used tung oil on an antique kitchen table it turned out beautifully. BUT it requires some work. You'll need a raw surface to work with meaning your floors would need to be sanded down past any old varnish.
Every year I put another coat of tung oil on my table. You might need to do the same for your floor, especially in the high traffic areas.
Good luck!

I wanted to use osmo oil when I had my old wood floors refinished, but was advised that the wood was too dry and splintery at this point, and a varnish was required to hold everything together. That might be something you wont know until they've finished sanding off the old varnish.

Used the osmo oil on the new wood we put down in the basement though, and it's lovely.

I've refinished an 100-year-old chest in tung oil... darkblue is right in that you'll need to sand down any old varnish on your floors or the tung oil will not penetrate. You brush the oil on, rag off, and let it dry. (This takes a several hours if I remember) then you sand with a fine grit and reapply your oil. I did 4 coats on the chest, which was quite labor-intensive, but the woodworker I apprenticed for at the time said it would survive the bottom of the ocean with this application. Very water-tight, in other words. Beautiful, natural finish with a burnished look. It smells a little odd when using it but that does go away.

Our oak floors (25 years old) were originally finished with a wax coating. After that long they need sanding and refinishing, but I think we would use oil or wax rather than any other finish. It requires a twice yearly re-wax and buffing process, but they do look good for months at a time. Don't let any moisture stay on for very long as it can leave spots that are difficult to remove.

pure tung oil isn't durable enough for floors. for an old fashioned finish, you might consider shellac with a wax. Waterlox is a combination oil/varnish that penetrates, is easy to apply and water resistant. Expensive, though.

My house in rural Massachusetts dates from the early 1800s. I love tung oil on my old wideboard pine floors, and have used it for 20 years. The best thing is that you can touch it up easily. There are certain places (the main entrance to my sittingroom, thresholds etc.) that wear faster than any other parts of the floor. With tung oil you can just wipe the bad area clean with damp cloth, let it dry, and then apply two coats of tung oil. The "patched" area blends seamlessly into the rest of the floor. The counterintuitive thing about tung oil: it actually dries to a hard finish, does not stay soft like many oils.To give you an idea of how much I like it: I rent two apartments in my house, and I use it as the floor finish because it's easy for me to keep up. I just refresh the worn spots with tung oil between tenants.

P.S. Unlike pennylane I have never sanded between coats of tung oil. To my eye it looks great.

I too have pine floors, dating 1914 or so. I used a polymerized tung product from Sutherland Welles, www.sutherlandwelles.com. Their staff was great to deal with and it has held up well. As everyone above says, it does take some sanding to get the wood to where it needs to be. Don't use a rotary sander was one thing I learned.

I moved into a pre-war rental that had been an eviction; I took it "as is" and the floors had had a coat of polyurethane put on over dirt or sawdust, so it was peeling up in long wide strips. I sanded it all off and applied tung oil and it was the prettiest floor I have ever seen. The old wood showed a depth in the grain that you seldom see. Then my house cleaners insisted on wet mopping the floor, and it got dull again. I haven't gotten around to re-applying the oil, but it wasn't all that much trouble, and was truly beautiful.

I only recommend tung oil for the hardwood floors I specify--it's such a natural and living finish--beats that plasticy furniture like finish that you normally get from varnish and poly. I specify Carlisle Wide Plank Floor's version, www.wideplankflooring.com

I've loved the natural, almost bare, wood floors that are popular here in Europe. Checking out Du Chateau floors, which are in Holland, reveals that they use a hardwax oil, with UV protection.

I've found this product online --

http://raincoastalternatives.com/hard_wax_oil.html

just another alternative...

Pure tung oil is a good option for wood floors, but it isn't as hard as other options. Some companies have developed engineered oils which are more durable for floors and high-use furniture (probably what dougdavis recommends above). Depending on the company these "engineered" products can be green or not. Biosheild makes a good hard oil finish (#9). It's Linseed based, so it will darken the wood a little, but only uses natural hardeners and ingredients that make the oil cure harder than pure boiled linseed oil, and more durable for floors.

Patching and repairing an oil finish is also a lot easier than a urethane or wax finish, and I think it's more attractive as well.

You have to be careful, a "tung oil finish" is also a generic term for urethane based finishes that emulate natural tung oil. If you go the tung oil route, make sure you by "Tung Oil" not "Tung Oil Finish."

I have a pretty wide experience with tung oil - I used to finish guitars with it and have coated most of a victorian home with the stuff.

Pure tung oil is okay - it isn't as resistant modern finishes, but it looks 110% "deeper" and natural than most modern finishes. After much trial and error I found that the engineered tung oil has the best balances of desirable properties. It is tung oil with dissolved hardening polymers - it builds the deep, oil finish (instead of the plastic coating look of shellac/poly finishes) and it is resistant to wear, water and even alcohol. I once put 25 coats on a guitar and it looked amazing - better than any lacquer yet with no expensive equipment and minimal effort (10 minutes to prep, 10 minutes to cat, 24 to dry).

I wouldn't say it is green as I went through tons and tons of foam brushes using the stuff on the top coats.

I'm a much bigger fan of BriWax

If Waterlox Tung Oil has not been mentioned it needs to be. It is highly regarded as the best tung oil floor finish on the market. Also used for furniture, hand rails, counter/bar tops, etc...

You will be happy you used Waterlox...

Hi Snowconejones-- I'm in Mass w/ pre-1800 pine floors. I'm trying to figure out what my parents did, (they have died and can't tell me) I think it was either tung oil or linseed oil, perhaps mixed with some thinner and/or Japan dryer... from what I'm reading. I do not want to take it down to bare wood and urethane--yuck-- but there are parts that are bare . I hope you see this. Is there a way to contact members directly? thanks