After years of refinishing and restoring antiques using old world "Hand Rubbed" techniques, and seeing the long term results of this process, I decided to apply these to finishing some floors in my house. The results were tremendous, and I was immediately set upon by friends and neighbors to perform the same magic in their homes. The one drawback to this technique is that it is extremely labor intensive and requires many applications to achieve a durable finish. Remember that you will be treating your floor as though it were a fine piece of furniture, and you results will show accordingly. This finish actually chemically changes the wood itself, making it harder and more dent resistant. {Editor's Note: This article specifically addresses finishing a floor, but can easily be adapted to any type of wood furniture)

1. Floor Preparation:
1. Use as an over-coating to an existing floor; only do this if the existing floor finish has integrity (not delaminating in areas)
   1. Clean floor with mineral spirts, and rags to remove dirt and old wax.
   2. Wet sand with 320 or 400 grit until the entire surface is scuffed, and smooth. Be careful not to sand through the existing finish (I sand by hand). If shaded poly was used do not attempt this.
   3. Reclean surface to remove all the sanding debris.
2. Use on a new or freshly sanded floor or furniture; (freshly sanded floor means: one that has been done by a floor sander to remove all finish, I usually leave this to professionals).
1. Resand the floor with an orbital palm sander with 220 grit sand paper to get a very smooth surface, make sure you get into all the corners, and along all the walls (this is important because it will affect the evenness of the penetration of the finish, which affects how the floor looks and feels).
2. Vacuum or sweep the floor to remove most of the excess sanding debris.
3. Wipe the floor down with mineral spirits to remove all of the sanding debris.
2. Application of finish:
1. The same technique for applying finish is used for all applications, but the consistency of the finish is altered depending on the condition of the floor/furniture, type of wood used, and the moisture content of the wood. The application technique is to take a lintless rag (I use old white T-shirts that have been washed a zillion times) and pour the finish out on an area on the floor/furniture, and rub it in, leaving it wet. Go over the entire floor/furniture, and go back to where you started, and without adding more finish continue to rub the floor/furniture over again, but with a new rag. I continue rubbing the floor/furniture, as many as 3 to 4 times until all of the finish has penetrated. I only change the rag only once, and continue to rub the floor/furniture with the second rag.

Tip #1: I fold up some rags to place under my knees to save them from abuse.

Tip #2: When you rub you produce heat which drives the finish deeper in to the wood, and helps weld subsequent applications to previous ones, this truly brings out the beauty of your floor/furniture. When you have rubbed the floor/furniture enough, it will be dry to the touch with the first few coats that are high in thinner. (Don't be misled, it should not be walked on at this point, it needs to cure.) Subsequent coats that are high in oil and poly need to be gone over continuously to achieve this dry to the touch feeling. Don't stop for a coffee break. Always work yourself so that when you finish rubbing you are out of the room on the final rubbing. Applications can be done every 12-24 hours , but not more than 24 hours between coats (unless conditions are extremely moist, in which case turn on the air-conditioner and get the moisture out of the air). I usually take about 4 days (8 applications) to do a floor/furniture. I don't have anyone living in the house while I am finishing a floor, bad fumes, bad karma; I also wear an organic filter mask.

1. First Application
1. The first mixture of the finish is determined by the condition and type of wood the floor/furniture has, and the desired end product for the finish. For the first application stain may be substituted for all or part of the thinner (mineral spirits, or paint thinner) requirement if some color is to be added to the floor/furniture. Linseed oil (boiled), or tung oil may be used for the oil. Remember that linseed oil will darken the wood naturally, and continue to darken to some extent as it ages. Tung oil does not darken with age as much, but does have the problem that some people are allergic to it. The poly must be thinner not water based. Satin or gloss are recommended for the sheen. The floor/furniture will not be quite as shiny from these products because of the addition of oil and thinner so choose accordingly. I always use linseed for oak floors/pieces, and add no additional stain.
2. Dry wood and floors that have been resanded
1. The first application needs to be at least 50% Thinner, 40% oil, 10% poly. This allows the oil and finish to penetrate deep into the wood to give it back moisturizers and stability. This will help floors/pieces that have separated forming cracks to regain their original size. Cracks will close up, and the wood will be fed. It also will make the wood very unpalatable to insects such as termites. The higher the percentage of thinner, the deeper the penetration, but also the less finish build up. It is important to allow deep penetration, as it will affect the beauty and depth of the finish, and also the health of the wood floor/furniture itself. Oak has a habit of rejecting or re-oozing (weeping) finish on the first few coats, additional rub downs may be required to pick up this material.
2. If the wood is very old or dry, I will apply this for several coats until some evidence of layering or build up is noticed.
3. For already finished or high oil content floors/pieces.
1. About 40% thinner, 40 % oil, 20% poly. Do not add any stain if the floor/furniture has a finish on it already.
2. Apply this mixture for the first 2 coats.
4. Subsequent finish applications
1. On subsequent finish applications reduce the thinner content 5% at a time and increase the poly content by the same amount.
2. Do not have less than 20 % thinner, as this will lead to the floor getting sticky instead of dry when you have finished rubbing it out.
3. I personally don't go below 30 % thinner especially on large projects, because the finish sets up faster than I can rub it out. As I change the mixture I keep an eye out for this , and adjust the mixture accordingly. If stickiness starts to occur, I add more thinner to the mixture and reapply it to the floor, then restart my rubbing out. The only disadvantage of more thinner is that it takes more coats to achieve the desired build up of finish, thus keeping people from their home longer.
5. Restoring of the finish after use: all floor/furnitures finished
Scratches, the higher the sheen the more the scratches show.
1. Follow the directions found in I.A.
2. Apply finish with 30% thinner, 40% oil, 30% poly and rub out.
3. Reapply 2-3 times or as needed to restore floor to desired finish.
6. Other Tips and Directions
   1. This finish may be used on furniture as well.
   2. If a very high sheen floor is desired more applications with gloss poly instead of satin will be required. The amount of oil and thinner in the finish need to be reduced, but be very careful, the amount of time you can rub out is reduced greatly and the propensity of the finish to get sticky is high. More than one new cloth will be required to wipe down the floor, and in general it is a much trickier finish to apply. Do this on the end coats, penetration on the earlier coats is paramount.
   3. Do not throw these rags in a can when done, or bunch them up in a plastic bag. Lay them outside to dry. These rags will spontaneously combust (catch fire) during the curing of the finish on them unless they are spread out to dry.
   4. If this seems like a lot of work, it is. But the end product is unbelievable, and easily maintained. The pride in the end product justifies the sacrifice.

I have had several customers and several pieces of my own which were going to have sever usage, and in these cases a coat of poly can be applied over the top after scuffing out the floor/furniture. Some of my customers didn't think that the shine was enough, and so I flowed poly over it. Do not be deceived, even after doing this the problems of delamination of poly do not occur because the bond is between the modified oil finish and the poly, not poly and wood. The wood has also a depth to it unattainable with poly and stain alone.

I hope this will help you, any further questions just e-mail me.
(Editor's Note: Jason hangs out on the Badger Pond Woodworking Form, any question addressed to him there will be promptly answered.