Fir has a nasty habit of splintering when you sand it, so sand lightly.

Fastest and lowest VOC ... any of the low VOC clear finishes meant for floors. A satin sheen would tend to hide scuffs.

If you change your minds, you can always paint over it.

Waterlox reeks! Tung oil has a very strong "oil paint" odor to it. Linseed oil can take forever to dry.

Fir is soft so it sands easily. Drawback is while working on it any dropped tool or little pebbles caught in a shoe can damage the floor. But it sounds like you are not expecting perfect.

Fir for the most part stains okay. Older fir soaks in the stain well so darker colors tend to turn out well too. But the grains tend to take color differently. Meaning if you stain black the grains tend to get an orange look.

But staining oppose to natural is more prep work. And natural fir does look good too.

I would stick with a water bourne urethane. Low vocs and you can do two coats in a day thus lessening the time needed to be off the floor. Not to mention its summer time so as long as the weather cooperates you can crack open windows and air out any minor odor you may smell.

Thanks guys! We have fir downstairs also so we are definitely familiar with the softness issue. We had the livingroom refinished professionally, but for the bedroom I think anything is better than the carpet that I spilled a gallon of white paint on, lol. The house is older and I've read in a few places that older homes generally have old growth fir in them which is tougher. Idk how true that rings or how old a house to be to qualify withing these standards.
I think we are going to go ahead and go with the water based poly. I looked online last night and from what I can tell I can get Rustoleum, Minwax, or Bona Mega at Lowes or Home Depot. I know I've seen the Bona recommended a few places. For a job like this where I'm not expecting perfection and not overly concerned with traffic issues do you think one of the cheaper brands would be ok? And is it necessary to use any kind of sealer or primer or anything like that before applying the poly?
Thanks!!

Thanks guys! We have fir downstairs also so we are definitely familiar with the softness issue. We had the livingroom refinished professionally, but for the bedroom I think anything is better than the carpet that I spilled a gallon of white paint on, lol. The house is older and I've read in a few places that older homes generally have old growth fir in them which is tougher. Idk how true that rings or how old a house to be to qualify withing these standards.
I think we are going to go ahead and go with the water based poly. I looked online last night and from what I can tell I can get Rustoleum, Minwax, or Bona Mega at Lowes or Home Depot. I know I've seen the Bona recommended a few places. For a job like this where I'm not expecting perfection and not overly concerned with traffic issues do you think one of the cheaper brands would be ok? And is it necessary to use any kind of sealer or primer or anything like that before applying the poly?
Thanks!!

If you use bona products. They will suggest to use BonaSeal. Do you have to? No but you should

I use bona products and if i was doing the floor i would but if your on a budget you dont need to. Your floor will be just fine if you dont. But as others have said. READ the label. And do exactly as it says. Dont take shortcuts.