Thanks everyone. I'll pass along the compliments to Hubby. (Funny aside; As he was showing me the finished product he said "Now you can take a picture...") raehelen: The finish is the Land Ark stuff posted above. One coat of the pre-mixed TransTint finish and then two coats of the concentrated finishing oil. trailrunner: He's learning as we go (did I mention he's very smart and talented and persistent?). Wet sanding basically means you sand with really find grit sandpaper while the finish is still really wet. Here's a more technical description: "Apply the oil finish liberally, and gently sand it along the grain of the wood with 400 or 600 grit wet sandpaper. This will create a thin paste, which actually seals the wood grain and protects the wood. Wipe it off extremely thoroughly once all the wood is saturated and let it dry. It is important to remove every bit of excess from the wood. Wipe until your cloth is coming off clean."

Try General Finishes High Performance Topcoat. I'm experimenting with it on red oak. It very much preserves the natural color of the wood. So much so that I'm wondering how to enhance the grain just a wee bit before I topcoat w/ it. No yellowing (on red oak) whatsoever. General Finishes contact phone # 800-783-8050. They're located in Wisconsin so Central Time Zone. I've called them before & will give them another call for suggestions on slightly enhancing the grain of red oak. It's available in satin, semi-gloss and gloss. McFeeley's has the best price that I've found. McFeeley's Oh, the stuff is super easy to apply. (I'm using a foam brush but it's sposed to spray nicely, too.) The only complaints that I've read about it is that it maybe dries too fast. I ordered some extender but haven't tried it yet since I'm only doing small pieces so far. Here is a link that might be useful: General Finishes High Performance Topcoat

There is always going to be a debate about this, but I'll say what I tell most of my customers. First, what's the look you want? Most pre-finished woods will NOT(no matter what the company tells you) have a perfectly flat end result, and you will have seams. Every wood company known to the flooring world will put a disclaimer on their 'instructions' that the "use of stains or putties should be considered normal practices". So if either of those concern you, don't get pre-finished wood. On site finished, those key things will be sanded down and puttied before finishing and resulting in less if no visibility of wider seems, putty marks and scratches out of box. Second, finishes they put on pre-finished these days are considerably different in many ways. In a factory somewhere(probably China depending on the company) they can put the harshest chemicals they want on the wood because of the fact that it's in a "controlled environment" which then can(and mostly does) result in a better and stronger finish. With on-site finishing you are restricted legally on what finishes you can apply, and depending on situations and products it can take anywhere between 3 days to 2 weeks for only FINISHING. That takes a chunk out of and slows down your building or living time. And thirdly, you cannot compare Apples to Oranges, EVER. You can't go to your neighbors house and see the pre-finished Australian Cypress they purchased from Lumber Liquidators for cheap that they installed themselves and then go to the local classy, and expensive, restaurant and see their on-site darkly finished Red Oak professionally installed, and come up with what you want in your house. And honestly people, 99 times out of 100 how much you spend will determine the end result. Meaning if there is a Oak that you're looking at and it costs $1.50/sf(yeah we wish, right?) and there is another Oak that costs $4.65/sf, the more expensive one WILL have a better finish, density, and/or overall quality(like i said 99 times out of 100). There's too much to go into but the basic aspects are different companies get different quality of wood- meaning grain tightness(tighter is better less chance of damage during sawing) grain pattern, finish chemicals(if pre-finished), etc. And just some last comments to help you out. What it really all comes down to is you. It's your house, it's your likes and dislikes that matter. Joe Shmoe can try and try to sell you this product or that product, but only go for what you want(remember most companies will give a kick back, or a spiff, to the sales person to sell their product even if the sales person says they don't). You have to live in your house, nobody else does. The installer only cares if you're happy and he/she gets paid, and the salesman only cares if you're happy and he/she gets paid, but you can only be happy if you get what you really want. Also, I used to love Bamboo. I like the look and most notably it is one of the fastest growing woods(it's actually a grass) in the world. I don't like it for floors anymore because it scratches so easily, because of the nature of a grass it soaks up any liquid very quickly including finishes. If your heart is set on bamboo, go with on-site and expect a lot of finishing days and in the future refinishes. I know there is another thread on bamboo floors, so check that out. Then, as with all floors, make SURE you felt all your furniture with heavy duty felt(in Oregon it's tan, but everywhere it will be very thick) and no, plastic feet will not do- knock off all old feet and replace with heavy duty felt. A pre-finished product that I really like is hand scraped wood. Couple reasons for this is- personal preference as i like more "rustic" looking design- and also because scratches and dings and bangs don't show as easily. I've actually installed a floor that had such a dark finish and was hand scraped that we accidentally cross-grained scratched it after it was all laid with an appliance and we took a sharpie(yes the marker) and colored the scratch with it and the scratch literally disappeared even to us knowing where to look for the scratch. So a dark stained hand scraped wood is excellent for scratches. And lastly, if you "think" you can install it- get a professional, it's harder than it looks and pros have the right tricks and tools that make the final product perfect(not to mention if something goes wrong you have someone else's dollar that will have to fix it). The only reason you should do it yourself is if you "know" you can do it. Hope all that helps. Good luck with your remodels or new homes!

The wood looked like it was probably unstained, and it is gorgeous. I would prefer it over most oak, but white oak is much more appealing to me than the red oak that is more common here. I talked to a couple of guys today -- one about the materials and one about the installation -- both about finishes. One likes the oil finishes but says a lot of folks think they are too much upkeep. Our discussion reminded me of my marble counters -- in a good way. The other guy said the oil finishes show dirt and most people are happier with a polyurethane finish -- also reminded me of the marble, but more of the nay sayers. He did suggest getting a large enough piece of something to treat with the oil and set on the floor where we can walk on it and the dogs track across it. I do have some smooth finish plywood in the garage that I could do that with. I am still making inquiries on the availability and checking out the finishes. I'm looking for smaller quantities of the stuff to sample, but it's not easy to find so far. I did have 2 people say it would be feasible to lay the flooring, sand and then finish room by room at least with the oil finishes. That may help us get it all done. Moving out for a mooth or more is not an option with 2 dogs, a 19 year old cat and one in high school with lots of activities, but I'd like to get it done before the holidays begin. I didn't think that would be a problem, but it's looking a bit tight.