Finished my floors w/pics! What kind of wood?

[John Lubeski]

Well, I got my hardwood floors refinished, thanks to the advise of some of the members, thanks! I ended up using the Bona sealer, and Bona Mega combo. I wanted to use the shellac/mega combo, but couldn't find enough of the Zinsser sealcoat around here?? They turned out pretty well, had some beautifull wood hidden under all that stuff that was on the floors. I still need to put some quarter round moldings around all the rooms, and I want to use the same species of wood as the floors, but I'm not entirely sure what the flooring is? I think its maple, what do you guys think? I'll attach a couple closeup pictures of the wood too.

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/duk...=/8fb5&.src=ph

[John Lubeski]

sorry I couldn't get the pictures attached, click on the link in the post above to go to my album, there you can click on a picture to get a bigger one.

[Rob Russell]

Looks like classic 2 1/4" strip oak. You can even see, in one of the later pix, where one of the strips is quartersawn and has the ray fleck running through it. Hard to tell on my monitor whether it's red or white, but I'd guess red oak.

[Jason Roehl]

Looks great, John! I'd have to throw my opinion behind Rob--red oak.

[Andy London]

It looks like the same wood I installed in our home, they referred to it as mill run Ash....I have a picture somewhere and will post.

Andy

[Kelly C. Hanna]

They could be Oak or Ash...they sure look nice!

[Rob Russell]

Oak vs. Ash ...

Take a look at the pix again - especially #7. The second full length board from the right looks like a quartersawn oak board to me.

Ash and oak can have very similar grain patterns, with pronounced straight grain and cathedral patterns on flatsawn boards. I've never seen ash with the sort of "ray fleck" figure that comes from quartered oak.

[Dave Richards]

John, I'd say red oak for your floor. On the topic of QS ash, I'm working on a table lamp made from some white ash. It has the rays and flecks like you see in QS oak. I suppose I'll have to take a picture of it now that I've talked about it.

[Chris Padilla]

John,

I think you could use oak or ash and be fine either way. Oak is the more classic wood for a floor (and odds are good that is what you have) but ash certainly isn't unheard of. If they are stained the same, it'll be difficult to tell the difference. See what you can find at the lumber yard and go from there.

Nice job...the floors look fantastic.

Oh, BTW, it definately isn't maple.

[John Lubeski]

Hey, all right guys, thanks alot! The ray flecks really threw me, I've never seen oak like that, but I'm only beginning to get into wood working. I'll probably go with the red oak for the quarter round, should be easiest to find around here.

Thanks alot Jason, the Mega finish turned out quite nicely!

[Jason Roehl]

I'll probably go with the red oak for the quarter round, should be easiest to find around here.

Thanks alot Jason, the Mega finish turned out quite nicely!

Waterborne technology is a wonderful thing, ain't it?

Red oak is a very common hardwood floor around here unless you get into the very high-end market (probably much the same where you are in MI). Now that I've looked closer at the pics, I'm about 99% sure that is red oak. Ash is more uniform in color, not only from board to board, but also within a single board, plus it is generally lighter. While it would make a great hardwood floor, ash just isn't commonly used for it in the Midwest (again, unless you're talking high-end stuff). Red oak is more plentiful and has a shorter lifespan than ash, I believe, so it is more commonly used, as it is not cheap to put in alot of hardwood floor in a house. Just my thoughts/experiences.