Which shellac sealant?

[Tom]

And that's exactly the reason I won't be using it on mine

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Can we go on splitting hairs about floors forever please? I like it! :lol:

Jaqy -Sealer - stop thinking about it in terms of sealing against. It's not like the grout around the bath tiles! You'll still get a big white ring if you put a hot mug down on my new floor finish! It's not an unbreathable, solid thing. It's called Sealer but maybe it should be called Improver, even Moisturiser. I felt that when I used it it was exactly like the difference when you put on your moisturiser, then your foundation, on your face, compared to just putting on the foundation- the smoothness, the evenness, the coverage, the softness of the look is improved. If you put foundation on without moisturiser you can see the orange gloop sitting in your pores. But the moisturiser protects against that happening - same with sealer, when you want to put wax on top.

Now someone will come along and disagree. :roll:

 

[Tom]

Aha, now I get it !!! Your explanation has made it sink in :lol: Thanks, Joce

Unless of course, like you say, someone comes along and disagrees :roll:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, good. And if I may return to my metaphor of your lovely made-up face, once you had carefully applied your final coat of foundation, your blusher, your sparkling highlighter, and you noticed there was a bit of orange gloop down in an enlarged pore, you wouldn't then get a body brush and scrub it out would you? :lol:

But you are right about the brush, I should have used it in the pitted sections when the liquid wax went on and was still wet. I doofed big time!

Here's a product description of the "Shellac Sanding Sealer" (stupid name) I nearly used:

http://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/products/wood-finishes/sealers-and-primers/shellac-sanding-sealer.htm

 

[Tom]

Oh, good. And if I may return to my metaphor of your lovely made-up face, once you had carefully applied your final coat of foundation, your blusher, your sparkling highlighter, and you noticed there was a bit of orange gloop down in an enlarged pore, you wouldn't then get a body brush and scrub it out would you? :lol:

Er, no :shock: But then again, I wouldn't want to polish my face either :lol:

But you are right about the brush, I should have used it in the pitted sections when the liquid wax went on and was still wet. I doofed big time!

I think you've confused things here. If you wanted to smooth the wax out while it's still wet, yes, use a brush...but a paint brush, not a body brush (or Liberon's brush, or whatever). Liberon's brush (or body brush equivalent) is used once the wax is dry, to polish the wax to a shine. It also smooths out some of the smaller clumps that clog holes. If you're still happy to come up with some floor sealer, how about having a go on some of our wood while you're here? That way, you'll feel better about whether or not it's a suitable technique for your floors

Here's a product description of the "Shellac Sanding Sealer" (stupid name) I nearly used:

http://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/products/wood-finishes/sealers-and-primers/shellac-sanding-sealer.htm

The description says it's suitable for wooden furniture but doesn't mention floors. Is that the reason you didn't use it?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, I get you about the brush.

The reason I didn't use the shellac sanding sealer was not because it doesn't mention floors on the label, but because in the early part of this thread a lot of cold water was poured on shellac in general.

Will PM you about arranging a time to come over etc!

 

[Tom]

Oh, I get you about the brush.

The reason I didn't use the shellac sanding sealer was not because it doesn't mention floors on the label, but because in the early part of this thread a lot of cold water was poured on shellac in general.

Will PM you about arranging a time to come over etc!

Yes, it's really confusing, isn't it?

I'll look forward to seeing you again

 

[Moo]

Schoolmarm - I take your point, but we didn't have access to the wonders of PPUK then*, so I guess we'll just have to live with it.

When we'd cleaned up all the builders' muck and were faced with what seemed like acres of bare boards we applied a coat of some strange witches' brew of flakes of different waxes, to a recipe provided by a furniture restorer. It was quite exciting, because we had to melt it over a little electric heater and apply the liquid when it was hot. Then we brought up the shine with the TrafficWax.


* But at least we knew not to use a synthetic varnish.

 

[Louis Henry]

Linseed oil works fine for me; it soaks into the woodworm holes, darkens the wood but stays matt with one coat, though if you put on too many coats you get shiny bits, which of course might be what you want if you're considering shellac.
Louis

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Louis! Yes, I'm sure linseed oil on its own is lovely if you aren't a complete fusspost about shine as I am.

Just thought I'd update the thread with the final look of the floor: I'll repeat my pics from Page 2 of this thread so you can see the step by step change.

Here it is before cleaning:

Before cleaning again:

After cleaning.

And then with only one coat of the Liberon Floor sealer (whcih contains oil, but is not the same as Linseed Oil) and no buffing yet:

And today, these photos taken under electric light I'm afraid. The floor has now had 3 coats of Liberon Floor Sealer and 3 coats of Liberon Floor Wax. The section of new pine by the door (just seen) was stained with a Brown Mahogany Water based stain by Manns, then tinted with Medium Oak Colron furniture finishing wax. I'm extremely pleased with the colour match. Some of the white on the boards is white fluff from the carpet. To me, it's still not shiny enough - I'm going to do a few more coats of wax.

 

[MdB]

Great pictures, great floor.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Schoolmarm - I take your point, but we didn't have access to the wonders of PPUK then*, so I guess we'll just have to live with it.

I think it is fine. And if you like the look and don't want to remove it, even better. 8)


I am still not clear on all of this anyway.

 

[Tom]

Joce, your floor looks absolutely wonderful.....you should be so proud!! I love the colour and if my floor ends up looking half as good as this I'll be really pleased Well done!!!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks for all the lovely things people have said about this pesky floor to support and encourage.

Toby PM'd me and said that I shouldn't put on any more layers of wax until the whole thing has had a thorough drying out period.

He also said that Liberon Floor Sealer is probably the same as shellac sanding sealer which I linked to, and that I should contact them and find out. So, maybe I've been wrong in parts of this thread to call it an oil-based sealer - I'll try to find out for certain what has gone into it.

He also said that linseed oil on its own is fine as a finish but that it shouldn't be waxed on top. It's not his method, but it's fine.

To conclude, there are many many ways to do a floor and it's not a case of right or wrong. My slippery, highly polished floor is a bit of a hazard, and if I had kids or dogs I certainly wouldn't have bothered.

Let's all enjoy our floors in their different states and not be comparing them up against possibly unrealistic ideals!

 

[worms]

if I may return to my metaphor of your lovely made-up face

So, do you advise that we take all the polish off the floor everynight before bed and start again in the morning?

 

[Moo]

My slippery, highly polished floor is a bit of a hazard, and if I had kids or dogs...

To hell with kids and dogs - it's me I'm concerned with!

xx M

 

[Tom]

My slippery, highly polished floor is a bit of a hazard, and if I had kids or dogs I certainly wouldn't have bothered.

Hmm, yes, this is something I don't want to create as I don't want to have to cover my floor with rugs as a safety zone :shock:

 

[Moo]

cover my floor with rugs as a safety zone

- and you know, of course, that rugs on slippery floors are also a hazard. So you have to put special tacky underlay down first.....

 

[Tom]

cover my floor with rugs as a safety zone

- and you know, of course, that rugs on slippery floors are also a hazard. So you have to put special tacky underlay down first.....

Well, yes, of course. Or you could use rubber backed rugs. Either way, I don't want rugs and I don't want slippery floors.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Ah, in that case you wouldn't want to do what I did as currently you can do a full sledge on a rug from one end of the room to the other!

I like slippy floors, I like dancing on them! If I'm not in a dancing mood I wear those socks with knobbles on the soles.