Name that finish!?

[robert raess]

I installed Red Oak flooring, which buts up to an existing R.O. floor.The owner told me it was a water-borne finish, and I made story boards of every kind of water borne finish, some were very close.The finish looks like oil poly, but does not have that amber cast.I am aware of Bob Flexner's test for diff. finishes,..My Ques. is as follows;The waterborne finishes we use in the flooring trade[the ones i use], are urethane and not acrylic based.So even tho they coalesce,[waterbased] is there a test to prove a high % urethane Waterborne finish or is it a oil based urethane [reactive]? Hope i'm clear enough, thanks Rob

[sheldon pettit]

I installed Red Oak flooring, which buts up to an existing R.O. floor.The owner told me it was a water-borne finish, and I made story boards of every kind of water borne finish, some were very close.The finish looks like oil poly, but does not have that amber cast.I am aware of Bob Flexner's test for diff. finishes,..My Ques. is as follows;The waterborne finishes we use in the flooring trade[the ones i use], are urethane and not acrylic based.So even tho they coalesce,[waterbased] is there a test to prove a high % urethane Waterborne finish or is it a oil based urethane [reactive]? Hope i'm clear enough, thanks Rob

Rob, try 9 parts methanol to 1 part water ok? it used to work on the older ones, not sure of the latest genrations. if it turns it to mush it would be a sign of mostly urethane at least ok?

[Scott Holmes]

Could the difference be the patina of the old wood vs the new wood? You may be able to add a bit of color to the water clear waterborne finish if you want to blend the color. Be careful and test on scrap first.

[robert raess]

Scott, that's the way i'm leaning.There was a pc. of flooring about an inch wide, that i had to remove to get a tongue to engage my new floor . Same species, red oak..and same grade.I tried to match my new wood the the existing i' pc...It was close.I took some stripper to strip off some of the inch wide pc,,down to the patinaed wood.It was a shade darker on both the top side as well as the bottom, that had never saw the light of day[ at least not for long].So yes i think patina is the X-factor. thanks for the input. Rob

[George Gyulatyan]

When I was redoing my flooring, I needed to match the staircase to the rest of my maple floor which was covered with Deft waterbased poly which was made to look like oil. In the master bedroom I had used Daly's Crystalfin, which does not impart any amber hue and I wanted to use the same on the stairs as I had some left.

So, I mixed some Platina and Garnet shellac, did some tests for proportions, then laied down a layer of platina shellac as the bare maple, followed by a couple of coats of platina/garnet mix, followed by three layers of the Crystalfin. You can't tell the difference in color, although Cristalfin is a heck of a lot more durable than the Deft and has smoother texture.