G'day, just kinda landed on this site and the wife and I have been oohing and arghing over some of the wonderful work you guys produce. Very impressive to say the least.

For the past twenty years I've been sanding and polishing floors here in Melbourne, and for the last eleven years my wife has been working with me. Together, we create some pretty nice floors. All the work we do is site finished and the bulk of it is restoration & repair work. Along with that we are one of only a small amount of businesses willing to tackle direct staining prior to finish coating.

Feel free to click on the WWW link, taking you to a web site I've put together, which highlights some of our great, native, Australian timbers. I'm sure a few of you might be interested in looking at some of the different timbers we get to work with.

Check out the Spotted Gum.....Jarrah......Iron Bark......Tasmanian Oak......Victorian Ash...& Sydney Blue Gum.

Take it easy

Nice work Dusty and impressive web site.

I noticed you sometimes sand across the grain of the wood on your first cut. I am wondering how that works for you. Is it because the wood you are sanding is very hard or dense and the drum does not dig in or is it the floor sander you are using that allows you to do this?

I can't get the link. What is the website I am interested in seeing your work

Thanks

Excellent work there Dusty. What..... no Australian Cypress?

hehehehehehe.... Somehow I knew that was coming

those are some nice looking dark floors took me a while to figure the www link was the button at the botom though lol

Neat. Have to say though, in Canada you couldn't bring the wood up to a fireplace and be within code.

I thought the same thing as that code is pretty universal. However, since it had been boarded up and now, Dusty put a floor in the bottom, I'd say it's a non-operating fireplace and may even be sealed off above.

i finally noticed the www button too.

very cool work

Fantastic Work Dusty!!!! Looks Amazing!!!!

Kudos Dusty!!! Very impressive. As much as I love what I do ... staining a floor for me is still very much a crap shoot. I would love to get as good at it as you obviosly are.

Would love to know more of the secrets that arn't on your website...

Cheers,
William

G'day, again. Thanks for the kind words, as each of you know, it's a pretty hard gig this floor sanding, so it's always nice when someone reckons what you do looks good.

First up, to Buddy J....Yes, in most cases it is necessary to do the first sand across the boards, on a forty five degree angle. This is due to the very high density of the timbers. I don't have to do it with every floor, but probably 90% of the time. I use 24 grit paper for this initial cut and it leaves the floor flat ready for the finer sanding along the grain. Although, it might seem like an extra step in the process, it in fact speeds things up, as I don't have to muck around trying to flatten it when going with the grain. These timbers are incredibly hard, so it's the best way to get a great result.

Next, to Jerry Thomas... Yes there is some Cypress Pine photo's on the site now. I don't do a lot of Cypress, which is a pity. as it's one of our easiest timbers to work with.

On to the fireplace....Yes the regulations are the same here. That fireplace had not been used for some Thirty odd years, so we created a bit of a feature for the owner. It now houses a plant in a fancy holder, which will apparently bring her good luck and prosperity. It had better get on with it as the lady was 84 when we did the floor late last year.

Finally, to William. The secret, if there is one, to good staining is time.
You must take your time.
Take the time to mask up each section to make sure there are no over-laps.
Take the time to carefully make sure you don't get it on the walls and skirting boards (shoe moldings in your case).
Take the time to let the stain dry before attempting to do the finish coatings.

Now, here's the good part, when your willing to take the time to do a great job, you have to make sure that the customer is willing to pay for that time. If they don't want to pay what it's really worth then simply don't do it. It's just not worth it.

For me to stain a floor of 100 square meters I charge $7000, which translates to about 1076 square feet and USD$6383. This allows me to take the time to get it right.

In the past, when I did them too cheap, I was always under pressure to get it done fast and that's where the mistakes happen and it all falls apart, for both you and the customer.

Well, thanks again for you kind words. It's now time to get myself set up for tomorrow as I've got a big stain job to start. So wish me luck.

Thanks .. couldn't have heard truer words ...

GOOD LUCK! (goodonya mate!)

Will

Such as a impressive work.

Impressive work. Can you please share your link?