Any chance its not paint and is shellac which comes in various dark reds/ browns. On my monitor it looks more brown with grain showing through but that may just be where its worn.

It is brownish-red -- I believe there is a test you can do for shellac; will look that up. do you think it will make a difference in the post-stripped and sanded look of the wood if it is indeed shellac instead of paint?

Shellac's solvent is denatured alcohol (or, um, real alcohol if that's handier.) If that doesn't work try mineral spirits or turp - it might just be old-fashioned varnish. Or you can have both, in serial layers. Oh, the joys of old houses!

Either way, you'll know pretty quickly because the paper towel you rub the solvent on with will get sticky when you have a match between the product and the solvent. Do the tests in an out-of-the-way spot, naturally.

It would be fab if it's shellac as it's much easier to lift than paint. The issue with paint is that it gets deep in the grain and between the boards and trying to sand down below it for total removal can result in sanding too deep.

Believe it or not some of us actually still use shellac on floors. It has many adavantages: it's natural (it's made from insect secretions, which may or may not cheer you up!); it's almost completely reversible (as you will find if that's shellac on your floors, you'll bless who ever put it down); and it's touch-up-able as new coats actually dissolve the coat below.

It is uncommon now and many (trades)people never having worked with it consider it too tricky to apply so there is much recommendation against it. It is not as durable as poly, though, and it is particularly vulnerable to water. (Though you can wax it - with well-buffed paste wax - to increase its resistance to water. It's very old-fashioned. I don't think it's as fouly stinky as poly. I like the softer, less plastic-y look to it, especially when waxed. It probably takes longer to apply (more coats) than slapping on some poly, which may be partly why it fell out of favor.

Casey usually chimes with good advice about buying it dry and recommends not buying it at big box stores because their stuff is not fresh. One buys the shellac flakes in various tints and mixes with alcohol in situ.

I think it is harder to apply when it is very hot and humid. At least I have more problems with uneven drying which can lead to a cloudiness. (Not fatal, but requiring another coat.)

Try Googling about this. If you get beyond the anti-shellac propaganda, you'll find info and Youtubes of people who have done it.

HTH

L.

If you're considering Rubio, also look into OSMO, which is a similar German brand beloved by a number of users on this forum. Try googling 'Osmo' and 'Gardenweb' - somewhere in these forums are a number of threads with great photos of rehabbed older oil-finished floors. I recall poring over them when I was trying to decide my own finish (we ultimately went with Waterlox, which was lovely but insanely smelly and not sure I'd recommend).

will definitely explore OSMO and shellac. thanks so much for that info. i am glad to know i have many other options besides for poly!

Hi there, I'm wondering what you ended up going with as I am refinishing similar floors. I love Rubio monocoat (the "smoke" finish is amazing!), but when we tested a piece it did not turn out like we expected. We discovered that our floors are heart pine and Rubio does not do well on them due to the sap in the wood. I'm hoping you found this to be wrong and used Rubio on your heart pine... :-)

Hi jfrzr,
Well I hate to say it but I've not yet finished the floors.
Long story, but we had to do some structural work under the house, so I took the floorboards up, treated them with Bora-Care, and now they are sitting in the garage waiting to be re-installed.
I did a bunch of research on floor finishes though, and right now I'm leaning towards using Pallman Magic Oil.
So maybe if someone reads this thread and has any experience with Pallman they can share it!
Jfrzr did you use the Rubio with the 'smoke' finish or just the clear?