That is their standard response to all floors. Maybe the rare floor finisher uses waterborne poly. The answer depends on what kind of finish appearance you want, what expectations for wear you have, and how "historical" you may be willing to be. The list of potential finishes, least-durable (requiring frequent maintenance, but giving a unique and more historically-authentic appearance, to hard, bulletproof plastic-y and inauthentic): Bare floor: ages naturally, but will water spot and stain most easily. wood worn away by foot traffic, especially with a very soft wood like white pine. No color will be brought out except by passage of time and whatever dirt/patina builds up and as the wood oxidizes. Wax finish: low protection from water and wear, must be renewed yearly or more, potential to bring out some color in the wood; colored waxes are now readily available. Will be a very authentic soft finish showing much of the natural wood color and texture. Wax does not form a film. Oil finish: Lots of oils out there, most oil finishes do not form a film, so the wood still looks bare/natural. Colored oil finishes are possible, but may blotch a bit at first, this usually will fade when 100% dry. Water spotting still possible, and wood can still wear down. The wood's surface is still taking the wear, but it has been fortified because the oil has penetrated it. Some harder-drying oils, like 100% tung oil, Australian Timber Oil, and I think Landark, are fairly good at hardening the wood surface and are the most durable oils. Wear spots can usually be masked by the application of more oil as needed. Shellac is called a "spirit varnish" because it forms it's protective beautifying film by the evaporation of the alcohol solvent that liquefies it. As the alcohol evaporates very quickly, shellac is a fast-drying finish. Some shellacs contain wax as an impurity. It is added as an extender, and it does help somewhat to achieve a smooth rubbed-out finish when buffed with steel wool. The wax/impurity also shortens the shelf life and lengthens the drying time, while making the finish less water-resistant. In my experience, it's the wax that makes shellac get white water spots. I only use de-waxed shellac, which can be purchased ready-mixed (Zinsser Sealcoat) or made by dissolving flakes in alcohol. I use a lot of shellac for various things, including some floors in my house (and fine furniture finishes). The formula I use for floors is to sand to at least 120, with the grain, by hand, then apply two coats of de-waxed garnet shellac (the darkest colored shellac that really brings out the beauty and gives a base color that's very pleasing on old wood/old house context) and put on 4 coats of the Sealcoat for the wear layer. Six coats of garnet to reach the same film thickness would be awfully dark IMO. Scratches in the shellac floor can be easily touched up without the need to sand the whole floor. Shellac will always bond to shellac, so there is never any problems with blistering or peeling. Because shellac has no odor after the alcohol evaporates, and you can put on 4 coats in a day, it's really great for bedrooms or people with chemical sensitivity. Old-fashion oil varnishes are sometimes used, but the reasons poly is preferred is because it has more benefits for floors because it is harder, so people don't mess with non-poly oil varnish much at all. The only benefit would be that it could theoretically be removed by a chemical stripper so future refinishing would be possible without further sanding. Oil varnish gives a deep amber color to wood, especially your old white pine. Problems include long drying time, softness, difficulty to touch up without sanding. Easier to re-coat than poly, though, because it will stick to itself with lower risk of peeling. Film-forming oil finishes, like Waterlox, are sometimes the most appropriate non-poly floor finish for historic floors. The huge selling point (what sold me) is the need for no future sanding. As historic flooring fabric is a finite resource, and can only take so much sanding until it is worn beyond use, eventually one must consider replacement vs. conservation. Waterlox makes the case that since it can be scuffed and recoated there is never any need to fully sand the wood, so a stable condition on the old floor can be maintained for a long time. Waterlox is a thinner oil=based varnish made with tung oil (I can smell it!) along with other resins and solvents. It has a _very_ strong odor when being applied, as you are getting the effect of the solvent and the material all at once. You need an activated charcoal respirator made for VOC's, or you will suffer the effects. It stinks, OK? The curing time, during which the odor can be detected, will be about a month. The bad, toxic aroma is gone in a day or two. I chose Waterlox for my old kitchen floor. It has held up pretty well; it's now been almost 5 years and there are some scuffed-looking areas where the chairs sit. It's been great for spills, water, general traffic, etc. So I recommend it unless you have chemical sensitivities for aromatic organic compounds, or nut allergies (!) Tung oil is from a nut, BTW. We then come to Polys and other hard commercial-grade floor finishes, some of which are technically difficult to apply and have severe health threats if the proper measures aren't observed while applying. I have such limited experience with any of these that I cannot comment as to any particulars, except to state that they do not have it within themselves to be touched up, and any damage to an area however small usually calls for the whole floor to be re-sanded for a total refinish, or the spot would still be visible. These finishes last an amazingly long time, requiring only cleaning maintenance, and if the floor in question were a new hard wood, it would make the most sense to use the most long-lived finish you could obtain. But in your circumstance it's probably obvious by now that I would not recommend such a finish for your historic wood floor. Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to weigh all the characteristics within your specific context. Casey

Hi, Congrats on acquiring such an interesting home. I think the mystery finish is a faux wood graining; when the original finish (probably shellac or oil varnish) became tatty looking, to save a complete refinishing, somebody decided to cover the flaws with the paint/stain/varnish method. Graining is notorious for being nearly impossible to touch up. The steps involved would be a very deep cleaning to remove gunk. Then any chips in the grain coat may be filled in with artists colors (even wood-tone sharpie-type markers) and finally a new layer of varnish to protect the artistry for another few decades. The aptness of the colors mixing and application will tell in the finished product. If you did decide to strip it to the original finish (maybe it's some fabulous hardwood!) the job will be more or less difficult depending on how much grain base paint embedded itself in the pores and scratches of the wood. You would probably find yourself touching up the indelible paint spots with markers or paint to color them to match the hardwood. Casey

Oly, you're spot on, so I passed on it. Leaves aren't rock solid either. My current table is a Jacobean revival. It's ok but not rustic enough for my taste, not to mention that my Parsons chairs don't fit between the legs :( (looks pretty much like this, but this is not my table) I also have a beautiful antique cherry table which has one leave right now but could be pulled out to 8 feet? However, it would require an additional leave to be made. Not to mention that I hate seeing it destroyed by my messy family members. Maybe I just let them wreck it???? Thanks so much, Cyn, for posting the tables, but I need one that can seat at least 8 people. I'm basically looking for a farmhouse table, and to complicate matters further, I also like the Arhaus Tao table... Indecision paralysis, which is why I don't want to plunk down 2K.

I have used tung oil, Waterlox and Bona Natural (waterbased poly) on what I call "natural" i.e. not shiny floors of different kinds. All work well -- I did not get a good/bad result with any of the finishes. Here are examples. I did a reclaimed fireplace. It's white oak. I coated it with 3 coats of tung oil. It's just starting to amber slightly but it has never turned dark. Dark floors aren't my thing. I wanted bleached originally but went with natural 5" ash. These are 9 y.o. now. They were done professionally, oiled -- 4 coats of pure tung oil. If you go with that plan on at least a week because each coat of oil must stay on the floors until it is absorbed fully. Fans need to be on round the clock. So it's 5 days minimum. (We obviously weren't living in the house at the time) and then 3 more days to cure. Here's how they looked originally and they still look the same. I coat them with Sofix a German wax/cleaner for oiled floors. They get cleaned with it diluted. Stuff wipes up. The worst I can say is they get some scuff marks that I removed for the first time recently with very fine steel wool. We clean regularly with the Sofix then vacuum. They have held up perfectly even in the kitchen. I have a reclaimed floor in the powder room. Our contractor put in remnants from another job which had been 100 y.o. chestnut oak boards done in a historic stone house right over the floor joists. These were oiled originally like the others but due to the age of the wood they dried out. I DIYd 3 coats of low sheen natural Waterlox (stink but easy -- again a fan for 24 hours between coats). We had a flood in there and the Waterlox resisted a ton of water; no cupping and we just vacuum. We had an apartment with oak floors and parquet from 1929. These were carpeted for 20 years. When we did a reno we refinished them (professionally) with water-based Bona natural -- low odor. Floors in the other rooms were white oak parquet done years ago with oil-based poly with a sheen -- those can be seen beyond. The refinished white oak are super matte. The appearance is raw wood. The Bona can be damp mopped with their cleaner. No scuffs but they did scratch when I dragged a piece of furniture. They have a different surface quality than any other floors I've encountered -- almost nonskid. But they gave me the matte look I wanted. Pine is a relatively soft wood for floors, at least compared to ash or oak. I've seen it stained and don't like that look at all. When it's natural, if will turn reddish over time. But it has a ton of character. If I were going with new pine, I'd likely use the Waterlox or the Bona natural though the Waterlox would be more durable IMO. Good luck!