Greeting from Louisville, Ky!

I have recently scraped paint from antique pine floors using a speedheater.

The floors are in excellent condition since they have been sealed under paint and carpet for 95 years. There is some base white primer in the grain and a bit of raised grain on boards close to the windows and doors.

The boards are 3.5in t&g as a subfloor with a full wear layer. 2 Rooms (14x12), 16 steps, 2 Landings (6x5) about 400+ sq ft. They look awesome on the smoothest boards where the paint scraped clean off.

These are not the orange boards that I see in most houses. It looks like it just came from the mill (very pale yellow colored, not as dark as the bottom side). I don't think a sealant was applied to the wood other than the white primer (yes, lead!).

So, I want to maintain the reclaimed look and don't mind divets and knicks. I don't want to change the color of anything other than remove some excess paint from the grain.

I am still skeptical about wood filler, confused about sanding or screening, and haven't even started to think about sealing.

If there is another thread similar to my position or any suggestions would be great.

BTW: I have taken full precautions regarding lead removal (goggles, gloves, niosh mask, 3 fans, tsp, simplegreen, containment and exhaust) and have safely removed about 80lbs of paint from these floors.

To maintain the clean pale look of the pine, you will need to use a water-based finish. The amber colour of oil-mod urethanes will ultimately result in that orange look you are trying to avoid.
Dont know about that white primer residue; is it just in the soft grain?
Thinking you may need to do a light sanding with a square buff type sander and 100-120 grit paper. These machines are not very agressive so wont remove the distressed look of the floor unless you over-sand.

Thanks for the advice about the square sander. After removing all of the paint with a Porter Cable ROS 40Grit, I caved and rented an drum sander and edger from the big box, 24,36,60,80 & 100 twice.

I had too, the boards were cupped and the paint had soaked deep into the wood in the water stained areas. All in all, I lost the slight patina when they were 24'd, but now they are flat again and that darn paint is finally gone. And hopefully I will never have to be that aggressive on these floors again, stairs too (whew stairs!!! corners, corners, corners).

Here is a tip for corners (painted). After scraping, get a 30 dollar cat and mouse detailer and use the 24 pads for the usand (hook & loop) from the rental equipment and cut to fit. It's cheaper that buying the foofoo pads for that tool plus they don't even offer lower than 60 in most stores.

But it doesn't matter because when you count the 80-100 rings around a knot, you know, this stuff can't be bought. The heart pine boards were the worst, because they really soaked up the paint deep in to the grain.

I dropped two coats of Fabulon Pryme II and then two of the Original Finish. To a great suprise the boards have maintained a very light color, without any amber tinting at all. And the best part, the grain looks like something from a guitar. It shimmers in the sun light.

On a refinish of these floors I will use a square buffer to recoat.

Lessons learned, drop and pickup the drum sander in different spots to blend the rut. Move really really fast with the edger to avoid gumming and buy a whole lot more paper than you will need and keep it close and change it often, very often. Save the edger detail work for last, because it will gum the paper the most often.

Follow Up on my flooring experience:

The Ryobi Corner cat didn't do the job when it came to removing thick old paint from corners. It took me nearly 45 minutes to do 2 corners on one step. I broke down the next day and purchased a Fein MM. I was able to use the rasp tool, 60,80, 100 & 120 on the rest of the 16 steps (32 corners) in less than 45 minutes.

Now, I know it is an expensive tool and most people say it isn't the ideal detail sander, but I believe that it can be (if you turn the speed down to 1 or 2 - lowest setting that is), plus it saved me about 12 hours of work. Some people have complained that it heats the paper too much an causes the varish to gum. I noticed this as well, but when using the shop vac attachment, things seem to stay much cooler and that equals less gumming too.

Besides, I was able to use the MM the next day to trim and sand a nice threshold from an old piece of red pine baseboard. When it didn't quite fit, I could trim another milimeter or 2 from the ends.

After putting the final coat of poly on my floors, I have noticed the slightest amount of raised grain, esp. in the straight grain boards. What would be the best way, grit, to smooth this out. Should I rent a buffer or could I use a high grit SP. Or do I risk exposing the wood hitting it again with SP. Fabulon does sell a thinner for super smooth final coats, but I'll be damned if I ever use that stinky stuff in my house again. Maybe the Crystal finish, but not the oil based.

Thanks.