Oil Based Polyurethanes and some Water Bourne Urethanes will have a color tone to them and will "assist" with the ambering color change, if that makes sense. there are also Non ambering water bourne urethanes that do not. they are more of a true "clear"

Staining walnut helps maintain its color, as you may have discovered in your research that walnut changes color tones pretty fast.

You can get the "clear" water bourne finishes in Matte or Satin or any sheen level you wish.

If you are okay with the required maintenance of a rub in oil finish, Rubio is a popular brand and that is a hard wax oil. it has 40+ colors to choose from. and is capable of mixing colors to achieve a "custom" color. In my neck of the woods it seems like its faded away from popularity.

Being in a very dry winter climate, before you purchase anything, I would make sure you have the capability to ensure the house will have enough moisture during those dry seasons. Walnut can be tempermental with seasonal changes.

If this floor is going over a wood subfloor, then I side with your husband and get the solid. Not engineered. just my opinion.

Thank you for your thoughts on the solid vs engineered. I never thought of the subfloor component. We do have a subfloor and I am confident that it is in very good condition (as everything else in this house). We are only the second owners, and the first was a builder himself so although it is looking a little dated, he did everything with quality in mind when he built it.

We also have humidifiers that run with our furnace but we will be investigating adding a stand alone to the system (if that is even possible). From October -May we run a small unit in our bedroom 24 hrs/day. Despite how that all sounds, the average person makes hardwood work in our area. We are just used to it.

I've been reading a lot about the Rubio on these forums and it sounds like a good product, however, wouldn't we have to go with a site finish to do that? We have been planning a pre-finish. You can't put the Rubio over an pre finish oil can you?

Thanks again for answering. Much appreciated!

Yes that's true Rubio would be needed to be done on raw wood that doesn't have finish on it.

depending on how big your budget is, you could have raw beveled planks installed and then have a pro do a very light minimal sanding and then finish. But that's pricey and if prefinish is what you meant, than I apologize for wasted info.

More info is never a waste.

Thanks so much.

If you considered the Lauzon, would you consider Mirage? I believe they have a nice engineered Walnut in various stain colors with a matte urethane finish. It's pricey but I assume Lauzon isn't cheap.

I would generally prefer site-finished solid floor if you have a wood subfloor. If you have an effective whole house humidifier, dimensional stability of any wood floor should be less of an issue. Even engineered flooring can be damaged if the environment is too dry. Using a 3" wide solid plank helps with issues caused by humidity changes since it's not too wide.

I like the Rubio and also WOCA oil. The Rubio does have a nice selection of colors and is fairly predictable to use but the longer term maintenance is a little more confusing and the products are quite expensive. The WOCA requires more coats but has an easier maintenance regimen (plus I can buy their products locally so that sways my opinion). The WOCA takes more work and coats to get a nice buildup. I'm getting ready to use Rubio White oil in my own house, as a test.

Lauzon,

Thank you for the info. I wasn't sure about the naming of pearl as online it looks fairly matte, but my local supplier doesn't have one in stock to look at. Ideally I want one with just a little bit of stain rather than natural, and love the feel of an oil, but would definitely consider the pearl.

I see you have a newer product called country side, but that is hand scraped thus is out of the running.

We had decided on Ambience collection natural in exclusive grade, but a slight stain is appealing for the purposes of minimizing the lightening to a small extent. I have always had my reservations of the semigloss and like the feel of an oil much better. If you had a product that was in the colour tone of country side, matte finish, exclusive grade, and not hand scraped or brushed we would be sold!

Thanks for your input

Check this UV oiled solid engineered Walnut floor. It has worked well in our Minnesota climate. It comes in scraped and smooth format.

[https://www.houzz.com/photos/walnut-uv-oiled-smooth-natural-solid-engineered-traditional-living-room-minneapolis-phvw-vp~20160225[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/walnut-uv-oiled-smooth-natural-solid-engineered-traditional-living-room-minneapolis-phvw-vp~20160225)

Hi,

Have you seen our Hickory Tunga?

http://lauzonflooring.com/hardwood-flooring/tunga-hickory-flooring-ambiance-emira/

It's a new product, I think it could be a great fit. Plus this flooring comes standard with Pure Genius and Pearl. I know it's not Black Walnut, but it's worth the look!

Or I would suggest either in Hard Maple or Yellow Birch our Sahara or Caroube in pearl. Color wise they could be interesting.

http://lauzonflooring.com/hardwood-flooring/sahara-hard-maple-flooring-ambiance/

http://lauzonflooring.com/hardwood-flooring/carob-hard-maple-flooring-ambiance/

http://lauzonflooring.com/hardwood-flooring/sahara-yellow-birch-flooring-ambiance/

http://lauzonflooring.com/hardwood-flooring/carob-yellow-birch-flooring-ambiance/

I hope this helps!

You are in Canada, low humidity, wood subfloor, I say stay with 3 1/4 x 3/4 solid hardwood. We offer the Somerset Line, the best sellers in Canada are the Red Oak unfinished line, you can view it here: http://www.indianafloorsllc.com/unfinishedhardwood.aspx

Hi again dum717,

Depending on your quantity (min 1000sf) , we can develop a special request to fit your need. In the past we had a color called Portobello, it's Black Walnut in Exclusive grade with a light stain for the purposes of minimizing the lightening to a small extent, which could fit your need. See below for picture (I know it's not optimal picture). We could make it in matte finish with our Pure Genius. If you want to take a look at the color, we have 1 box remaining in semi-gloss, you could ask your retailer to order it, here's the code: Black Walnut 3¼ exclusive Portobello - BW03MZ115V .

Hope this help!

Hi Lauzon

Thanks for trying to help us out with this. Your offer of a custom batch is a testament to your service and reputation. We do have a large area (3200sqft), but to keep it simple we have decided to go with our original plan of the natural exclusive and I will live with the semi-gloss. I have found that even the matte finishes don't compare to the feel of the oil finish, and I will sacrifice the gloss for less annual maintenance.

By the way, Portabello looks like a great colour. I hope you are able to find someone for your last 1000 soft!

Thanks for all of your help. I look forward to our final product installed.

Hi dum7117,

We are happy you found something you like. But you can still ask for a pearl finish instead of the semi-gloss if it's what you prefer. You can achieve your matte look with the Pure Genius. We don't know where you are located, but some of our retailers offer discounts on the Pure Genius option this summer. And don't worry for the maintenance, our matte and semi-gloss requires the same care.

We are looking forward to see great pictures of your project on Houzz!