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weedyacres

So I took a drum sander to our pine floors....

weedyacres
10 years ago

As some of you know, we've been working on restoring the original heart pine floors in our 1920 worker's cottage. It involved a lot of elbow grease in getting adhesive and carpet pad residue off. And then we couldn't get the shellac/varnish off with a normal rectangular vibrating sander or all manner of chemicals.

So against all your warnings, we rented a drum sander and went to town. We figured if we destroyed the floors we could just cover them up again with carpet. :-)

Turns out it was just the ticket. These floors are dang hard! Here's a shot after a few passes with 20 grit (the lines are where the sandpaper got gummed up):

And here it is after several passes with 20 grit and then a round of 80 grit (still with the drum).

I've spent the past couple evenings with a hand orbital and 40 grit to get around the edges and in the low spots. Here's a "finished" bedroom:

I'm pretty much resigned that they're not going to get "cleaner" than this. Is this an appropriate assumption? And will it turn out as "character" and not "crappy?" What remain look like drag marks and black spots (rust? water?).

And I'm afraid the kitchen isn't coming clean. I tried bleaching with oxalic acid, drum sanding with 100 grit (no lacquer to grind through), and the stains are still there. Should we go ahead and seal/poly it to see how it turns out? Or do we just need to cover it up with some nice sheet vinyl and call it a good effort?

Thanks for your help along the way with this arduous process.

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