The old style polish of beeswax, turpentine and linseed oil will blacken with age. Clean it carefully ... Dust it, then use mild soap and water on a soft cloth to remove water-soluble crud. Then shift to mineral spirits and 0000 steel wool, cleaning gently to get the oil-based hand grime and such off. If you have a flaky, scaly finish, that's probably old wax buildup. Remove it with a blend of lacquer thinner and denatured alcohol (I use 50/50). Apply liberally to a small area, let it soften a few moments, then gently rub off the crud with the steel wool. Repeat until clean. Do this outside, with gloves because the fumes are vile and flammable. This picture shows what removing the decades of old polish and wax can do - It went from black to walnut in about an hour.

oneluckigal- I have three small boys. There have definately been dents, nicks, etc. in the floor. The worst case is actually dents from someone wearing stilettos at a party and leave little indents. If you are looking for a polished pristine floor, do NOT get black walnut. In our case, we liked the juxtaposition of new and old and liked the feel of an antique floor. We originally were going to "distress" the floors after they were installed (and they are character grade so they have knots, etc) but then we decided not to because they were so pretty! However, time does distress them, they are relatively soft. If you drop a can and it hits at a certain angle it will leave a mark. But since they were already character grade, it doesnt look like the floor has a mark here or there, it just has an overall aged patina. As such, they do not bother us. I maybe could have done without the cluster of stilletto marks but thats life. We also had some scratches from the kitchen chairs being scrapped in and out from the table by the kids and we did the touch up of waterlox and they disappeared. They come back eventually though! Bottom line, if you like antique floors, there are none more beautiful than black walnut (IMO). We would pick them again and will put them in our next house. If you like a very durable floor you are better off with a white oak stained dark or a ipe or something like that. If anyone says they dont mark, they are walking around in socks and not entertaining. As for the waterlox, not at all sticky, it dries hard and it actually doesnt feel like there is anything on there. It sort of sinks into the wood, the wood has sheen but you cant really detect a "finish" or "layer" on top. When they scuff, it just gets a little duller there until you add more waterlox. Waterlox is an ordeal however- we had to move out- we tried to stay in the basement the first time and it was horrible. The next two layers we left for overnight. It takes about 24 hours to cure.

Here's a picture. It's kind of dark in the room right now. It's a pretty honey yellow pine. Above the two drawers is another drawer without pulls. It's obvious that the piece was stained dark at one point, trying to simulate a fancier wood. There's reddish stain in places and all of the bun feet are stained, with the rear one being very dark. The pulls are wood with little metal flowers in the middle. Now, I need to figure out how to fix the drawers. P.S. If anyone is interested: They also had a bed for sale in tiger oak with really amazing turned spindle posts. Haven't been able to find anything like that online.

Hi Kathrine. It seems like you are well on your way to a solution already, but I would like to clear some of the fog. First, I would like to address oil and wax finishes. Although they do produce a decent finish, they take forever to cure, they will need to be renewed eventually, and they offer little to no protection (when compared to a film finish). In a kitchen, durability is usually the big concern and pure tung oil simply doesnt have a place there. Now if you have a nice antique hall table that you dont mind babying, tung oil and wax could be a good choice. But with the amazing array of beautiful finish options available today, its hard to believe tung oil (and boiled linseed oil), still find their way into our homes. That being said, I am glad you went with the Waterlox. Despite the incorrect information Minwax gave you, Waterlox is not all that different from a wiping polyurethane. Waterlox actually contains little to no tung oil at all. It does, however, contain a resin that is derived from oil and is a close relative to polyurethane. Many woodworkers like this particular resin better because it is less "plastic-looking" than standard polyurethane. So what you have actually done is exactly what I would have recommended: you top-coated your tung oiled surface with a wiping varnish. This varnish will give your cabinets the protection they need from oil, grease, heat, water, and cleaning agents. A level of protection that tung oil cannot provide. And one note to the folks who were discussing "food-safe" finishes. Nearly all film finishes are food safe once cured. If you are a bit skeptical, there are FDA-approved varnishes available (usually labelled salad bowl finish), that will offer much more protection and durability than oil and wax. I apologize for the blitz of information. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask away. Marc