Can anybody tell me whether the original coating applied to this floor was paint
or varnish? (It's most visible in the lower right foreground of my photo on Flickr.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unrpress/5002900674/

I'm new to hardwood floor work and am refinishing this bedroom floor in my dad's farmhouse built between 1892 and 1922. (NOTE: I know there may be lead and/or asbestos in this paint, so I'm hand-scraping it with a "safer" stripper, mineral spirits and rags.)

In its early days, the floor was obviously protected by a center rug and some kind
of coating on the exposed board surfaces around the perimeter of the room.

This tan finish is very tough to remove when dry--even with sandpaper. When I apply
stripper or mineral spirits, it just liquifies and can be easily wiped off of the boards.

I'd love to refinish the entire floor with this stuff (or its modern equivalent) because it's so
durable.

Can anyone help?

As far as I've heard there was never any lead in hardwood finishes. But better to get a lead test kit. What kinda wood is that?

I'm not sure what kind of wood these boards are made of. Do you know what kinds of wood were used in flooring houses a century ago? Could it be pine?

Their probably fir. Might just be wax built up over the years. I have run across that during refinishing in old homes. I had to hand scrape it all off to avoid going through a sanding disc every 2 feet.

I can attest to that, Jeff. Earlier, I tried sanding one board with a little 80 grit open-coat paper with a rubber sanding block and it clogged it up in no time.