I really wanted to refinish our floors with linseed oil, but the contractor we had recommendations for didn't use that, and we were under a time crunch with our move. We wound up with water-based urethane, which is greener than it might have been but nowhere as green as I wanted. So I'm interested to hear about experiences with oiled floors--great question!

We've done both. In our current house we have only used Tung oil with great results. They weren't too bad as far as nicks and stains, so Tung oil was the perfect (and cheaper) solution to refinishing them. It's a good workout though, you rub it on then need to buff it a few minutes later so it's nice and smooth.

For our new house we just finished (moving soon), we used an all natural polyurethane made from whey (yes, from cheese processing), called Vermont Natural Coatings. The entire house was done with this and so far so good, and the store that we buy it from says they've had nothing but good reviews so far. No, I'm not connected to the company, but I do live in Vermont, so was also very happy to support a local company :-)

i recently used pure tung oil from the realmilkpaint website. I refinished the floors myself, stained them, and then applied the pure tung oil according to the directions on the website. The only thing that makes it a bit tough is the longer drying time, but i did not want to use poly. i would def use it again!

...beware boiled linseed oil from big box stores. Its unnaturally treated with heavy metals and poisonous, legally not suitable or food surfaces therefore not suitable for human contact in my opinion.

And it biodegrades in use if moist, turning black with mildew.

I have never applied tung oil, but we specify it for use on the wood floors in the houses we design (most of our flooring is reclaimed white oak). Our clients love it because of the ease of upkeep and the beautiful finish. It lasts a long time, once finished.

I've been using tung oil on firearm wooden stocks for awhile, and there's a good reason they've used it for that - it's very resistant to moisture, humidity, and dings. The surplus wood stock set for my semi-auto AK-47 in particular was finished this way and looks nice. I decided to use it on a floor install with reclaimed wood and it turned out great! Use very thin coats or it will take forever to dry. Rub it in using a lint-free cloth, wool works best. It feels nice to not have to aggressively vent the place while applying it, you feel much better because you don't have all those toxic aromatics swirling around you!

I wouldn't recommend tung oil simply because it has been a proposed causative agent for chronic fatigue syndrome. You can google this and find more info on it. So, when I was looking for a finish that was natural and non-toxic I went with Rubio Monocoat. Here's more info. http://www.rubiomonocoatusa.com/ Be sure to read all about it because it is an exceptional product I think. It actually just takes one coat to apply and it hardens (unlike other oils) because of the plant based waxes in it. It doesn't scratch, doesn't stain and upholds tremendously well. It's easy to reapply if need be and looks very natural allowing the natural beauty of the wood show through as if nothing is on the wood. Doesn't look like urethanes at all. I used it on our butcher block countertops and I have been so pleased with it. One application and never have to apply again. It's wonderful! Also, it's a zero VOC product so there is no off-gassing. I have commented about Rubio Monocoat before on this site and I really wish that someone would write an article about it to get the word out as it's newer to the states.