Hi all!

New member here- been reading up on the procedures to refinish my red oak floors, going from a natural color to an ebony stain. This is what they currently look like.

I'm planning on using Bona Drifast ebony stain, and Lenmar oil based polyurethane in satin afterwards.

I've been reading this thread and found the sanding advice very useful. What I'm wondering is how the sanding would differ for the oil based polyurethane versus water based?

From what I've read, screening the floor in between coats, then vacuuming and cleaning with mineral spirits is the thing to do? Is that correct?

Also, this is mentionned:

"if this is new wood, 36 drum, 60 edge, 60 drum, 100 edge, 100 drum"

I'm unsure of the 'new wood' part- does this mean that my refinishing my existing floors requires different grits than 36-60-100?

Thank you so much!

Dave Ruel

When staining the sanding progression I use is 36 drum sand, 36 edge, 50 drum, 50 edge, 80 edge, 80 drum, palm sand or U sand the edges with 60 grit hook and loop paper. Then buff with an 80 grit sanding screen. Vacuum, waterpop, let dry, apply stain with buffer, let dry, finish, let dry, buff, recoat, let dry, buff, recoat,

New wood doesn't necessarily mean to sand different than old wood. It "can" indicate that there is more leveling to be done though because the wood has not been sanded before. Generally speaking, I always 2 or 3 cut every floor I work on , new wood or not.Sometimes I will cut as many as 5 times depending on degree of difficulty and species.

Based on your picture , you could very likely two cut your field and edges and get excellent results. But this depends on if you have quality machines to work with and the skill to use them. I use a Lagler Hummel belt sander and a clarke 7R edger for the bulk of the work. Some guys use antiquated machines or machines that aren't kept in proper condition and may do things very differently than I do.

So , what machines do you plan to use ? And what experience do you have ?

If you're using ebony stain, you'll need a near perfect sanding job.Dark colors show EVERY little mark;edger swirls, drum dips, streaks,chatters(left behind by worn or out of balance sanders) even look worse with darker colors.
IMO, if you plan to rent a sander, you'll be lucky to find one that doesn't leave chatters.
Dark stains are very unforgiving in the finish application also.
I'd call a pro.

So I've undertaken the project- did the 36 grit drum and edger today, and BOY am I sore. This techno-geek is not used to that kind of a back workout. The edger is an evil evil machine.

For reference- I am using a Silver-Line SL-8 drum sander with SL-7 edger.

I see what you mean about the dips and edger swirls- I will do my best to minimize these, but I have definitely gained an appreciation for the trade... Also, working in confined areas and going with the grain sucks. I've gotten tangled up and left dips a few times.

Starting 60 grit tomorrow, hopefully 100 grit too!

Thanks for the help!

Once done buffing, wipe floor with wet mop. Let dry. This will raise the grain and hide sanding lines. Plus it will make the wood absorb much more of the ebony stain.

Yep, I water-popped it, stained it, turned out quite nice. Here is the kitchen, and the living room.

Also hurt my back in this process, somehow!

Pardon the dirty camera lens... Urethane will be next.

looking good

After you water popped it did you stain it next or did you hit it with a screen before you stained?

Stained it.

Final pics???