OK, I think I might have problems. Some history: I have 950 sq ft of Ipe that I installed. I installed 300 sq ft about a year ago, and I used waterlox (first coat Original and 2nd & 3rd coat Satin). The Satin coat seemed to "streak", which I think was because it was nearly impossible to get the solids in suspension after mixing. However, I did like the look of the Waterlox, but the streaking (admittedly could probably be avoided) and the insane smell during the application kind of put me off.

So, fast forward a year later (now), I installed another 650 sq ft, and this time I sanded the original 300 sq ft, and applied Osmo oil-wax on all the Ipe. In order to get the best absorbsion, I sanded only to 80 grit, and I hand tacked the entire floor with mineral spirits, and let it dry. I then convinced my fiancee to hand rub Osmo and I followed with a floor buffer and a white pad. It's been about 4 days, and we are walking on the floor with socks, and we are seeing a lot of "impressions", which can be sort of rubbed out. My concern is that these "impressions" are not getting any better. It's like the finish is too soft, or the finish is being rejected by the wood.

So, I am wondering where I should go from here. I am having serious doubts about the Osmo on Ipe. I tried it because I liked the idea of spot fixing areas should I need to, and the very low smell during application. However, if the finish is so soft, that it leaves foot prints everywhere, it going to look like crap all the time.

I am wondering if I should try Waterlox again, or perhaps something else. I hear a regular poly will not work with Ipe, but a water base will. Should I consider going back to Waterlox, or I should try a water base?

Well, I think I am going to go with Waterlox, 2 coats original and 1 or 2 coats satin.

I'd like to try 2 coats Waterlox original, then 2 coats of Bona Traffic, to get great "depth" with great protection, but I suspect traffic is not a DIY/non-professional friendly product, and I would probably screw it up. If anyone thinks otherwise, please let me know.

Also, if anyone knows someone in Austn, TX, experienced with applying Waterlox, then top coating with Traffic, especially if they have experience with Ipe, I would really like to talk to them and possibly just hire them for the work. I'm not sure how many times I can screw this up and keep my sanity. Thanks.

you don't want to use traffic over waterlox, really no finish should be applied over waterlox, unless you like rom your waterbased coats pealing from your oil. ipe is a difficult wood to work with if you haven't worked with before. 4 coats of waterlox works great as long as you give some extended drying time between coats, might take a few days for the sealer coats. Traffic is a great product aswell, if you want some depth to the wood, us bona dry fast sealer (oil). The 2 products work together well. How are you applying the waterlox. I T-bar with a wieghted bar and it works well. if you like the thought of being able to do spot repairs, you should consider bona natural. It has a very low sheen but is the easiest finish i have come accross to repair. Good Luck

I have done many finish tests on Ipe. All of the oil-based sealers I tried (including Bona DriFast Sealer) have always failed these tests. Oil-based stains, DuraSeal and Bona DriFast would always dry and look normal, I don’t know the reason the stains passed and the sealers did not but this has been my finding.

Waterlox Original Sealer passed all my test and of course dewaxed shellac and water-based sealers always passed these test.

On the last three Ipe jobs we installed, sanded and finished our customers chose all water-based finish after looking at my samples. Water-based sealer, dewaxed shellac, DuraSeal neutral stain and Waterlox Original look very similar on the first coat. Waterlox made the Ipe turn slightly darker than the others.

My favorite is one coat dewaxed shellac and two or three coats of oil-poly.

The photo below shows dewaxed shellac on the left and water-based sealer on the right. As you can see there is very little color difference.