Hah - yep, I love the smell of shellac, I think it's the incipient alcoholic in me. We have all our trim (old Craftsman house) done in shellac.

OK - I used it on my freshly re-stained oak stairs this week, and the PolyWhey is AMAZING. I don't think I'll ever use regular (oil or waterborne) poly again. It goes on very easily. In the can, it's got that murky color that's consistent with waterborne poly, although it's slightly *pink* (!). Dries perfectly clear.

It went on very easily. NO ODOR AT ALL. And it dried within an hour (they say to give it two) for recoating. Gorgeous finish, easily as good as regular waterborne.

In fact, it dried so fast I didn't even have to lock the cats in, since they hadn't even woken from their nap by the time it was dry.

I'll snap some photos soon. For now: A+ results & satisfaction. Will report in a few months as to durability.

I'm using the PolyWhey right now. We sanded our old pine floors that were in bad shape, applied polymerized linseed oil (Tried and True brand) as a gorgeous stain (really stunning color), and now are finishing up the sealing with PolyWhey.

I bought a gallon for 200 sq ft and it's way more than enough. The product goes on smoothly, though as someone who's never used ANY water-based finish, I had to learn as I went, and did make some mistakes. At first I applied it too thinly and the edges weren't getting coated well (old floor is cupped from sanding). Then on the second coat I applied it too thickly and got bubbles and lines and too much shine, though these errors sanded off fine.

Overall, I'm really happy with it. A safe, environmentally sealer was my top priority, and it looks as though it will be very nice once I learn its ways and get the last coat on.

I don't feel you can compare the price of a safe sealer to a sealer that will hurt your air quality for years and years- not to mention when you sand it off, if you have to. There's just no comparison, and you have to take those things into consideration when you think about long-term value.

My uncle builds custom homes in New Hampshire. They prefer to use raw wood planks for the hardwood floors instead of the factory prefinished products.

They finish the raw wood floors with 3 coats Waterlox original, and a topcoat of Vermont coatings Poly whey.

He told me the ploy whey is a green product, but he doesn't tell people that because it is so durable. Most people associate green label with higher cost or compromised quality. The poly whey costs about the same as Waterlox, and it is as tough as a factory finish.

The factory-finished floors look dull and the seams stand out. Site-finished looks way more beautiful. The waterlox base coats bring out the natural wood tones and make the grain "pop" Waterlox is an oil base varnish and is a durable floor finish by itself. The poly whey is applied over the fully cured waterlox. This top coat gives the floor more durability and is repairable if it does get scratched for some reason.

The cool thing about all this is the process is very easy to master if you want to try it yourself!

I was advised by a reputable "green" building center to paint 3 coats of the PolyWhey over the paint around our retail office's doors and trim, which get banged up quickly by dollies.

Spent 2 weeks doing 6 doors, frames, baseboards, and railing around the landing. I got better at the technique as I went along, but even by the end I had drips and brush marks, no matter how thin I painted it on. This product is much runnier than anything else I've worked with. Most disheartening however is that 3 coats pretty dramatically warmed our white color with a yellow tint. This could have been over looked, except that over the last 2-3 weeks it has only continued to yellow and show every single brush stroke or areas of "pooling" around the panels in the doors.

The product seems to be protecting our paint well, but looks awful in galleries and area we meant to spruce up for our upscale clients. We are not impressed.

Very unhappy camper here...Vermont Natural Coatings whey based floor finish was promoted as curing in a week. But after a month the floor still has a weird smell. The smell has permeated beyond the room we redid into the rest of the first floor. I wouldn't use it again and would appreciate any suggestions to stop it from offgassing for years.

Safecoat sells a sealer they swear will stop the smell and offgassing if I reseal, but I'm very hesitant to add to the brew.

Hi Hamhockzz,

I'd suggest contacting the manufacturer. They have a great customer service team and I'm sure they would be happy to help you out.

Yes. I just finished using it on our floor. It's great stuff. Very easy to use.

It's forgiving, meaning if you see dust or lint, you can wipe it off and just brush over the area without any issue. I did our entire basement floor with it (birch floors- unstained) and finished all 3 coats in one day. (2-3 hours between coats). I used the waterlox floor finish application kit (online) which came with lambswool applicators and everything you need. I used the brush that came with the kit to feather and back brush when needed. Compared to other floor finishes the odor is minimal. We have allergies so we wouldn't use anything that was too strong. Windows and a fan did the trick. Prior to using, I tested sample using a scrap board and the odor went away once it cured. I suspect the same thing will happen with the floor but since there’s so much surface area, I’ll give it a week or two. If I don’t add anything else to the post later, you can assume the odor is gone. Also, we put the sample through the ringer- stomped on it, dropped stuff, spilled stuff- no problem.

Overall, I’d say it’s an excellent product. The floors look beautiful. The staff was also knowledgeable and helpful when I called with questions.

Would love to hear follow up comments from anyone who has used this. Rebec, did you sand between coats? Also, if we can't do the entire area at once, how well does this blend at the edges?

Also, very interested in how durable 1 coat over another finish seems to be?

I've used Vermont natural finishes for 3-4 years now and low it. I've built a whole set of kitchen cabinets and wooden counter and its holding up real well (3 years). And I did half the floors in my house with the floor finish and its holding up real well. I've been a woodworker for 35 years and this is the best product I've used. Easy to use, very low odor, no toxic, easy clean. With some woods you might want to oil (like with clear watco first) to bring out more of the depth of the wood (wait 3 days after using watco before putting this on), but with a lot of woods this works fine to just put it on and sand lightly after the first coat. Good to experiment a bit first when you use it on a new kind of wood. I'm making wooden bowls now and using it on them - emailed the manufacturer about any toxicity and they said none.

Thanks Mark! When you did half your floors, what was your preferred applicator? Also, how many coats?

We would be going over a hardwax oil finish (that's not as "durable" as "advertised", but would like to work in sections, rather than having to remove some larger pieces of furniture.

Wondering how it works to blend this at doorways, etc.

Built a desk, stained the top and painted the legs warm white. Used the satin furniture PolyWhey over the stained top and also on a few inconspicuous portions of the paint, just to test. Looks absolutely gorgeous on the wood (has been nearly a year, still holding up beautifully). As another person mentioned, if you have a light colored paint, the PolyWhey visibly yellows after awhile. I'll look for another paint finish, but definitely worth the price for wood finishing

Hi, Just had my oak hardwood floors refinishes and sealed with 3 coats of the semi gloss PolyWhey and am very disappointed in the way the work came out. Instead of smooth finish, my floors now are rough to the touch. Company that did work says that is best they will be. Another company says they can get them smooth by buffering and adding two more coats of finish. Before spending an additional expense, would it be better to just have floors re-sanded and go with urethane finish. Thanks for any help that can be given.

Just had a terrible customer service experience trying to order direct from Vermont Naturals. I placed a $500+ order for product for our new cedar fence. Then I received an email a few days later saying there was a mistake in the shipping charge and I owed $36 more! HA! I responded politely saying that they should absorb that cost because it was their mistake and placed my phone number in case they felt they still needed to collect $36 additional.

A few minutes after sending the email to Susan, another woman (Donna?) called me. I spoke to her on the phone previously when I was ordering an array of product to sample on my fence. She unapologetically insisted on collecting the $36. I am a reasonable person and was fully prepared for the call, knowing I would ultimately pay $36. BUT, Donna was entirely rude and didn't even apologize or empathize. Nope. Just cut and dry, wouldn't listen to me, just wanted my money. I cancelled the order. What terrible customer service!

Beware: they'll be so nice and accommodating in answering questions about products before buying. But deep down they just want your money and you won't be worth their conversation once they have it.

rebec and Circus Peanut - How is it holding up after all these years?

Applied this to new pine floors 2 months ago. Still smells awful!!. Just moved into house this weekend and my asthma is awful, headaches, burning nose and throat. I called company to ask for help with odor and they denied their product smells, which is absurd. Im super sensitive which is why I bought this but it is NOT safe for chemically sensitive or asthmatics. Ive very successfully used AFM products in the past and all odor gone in 4 days. Should have stuck with what I knew to be safe. This stuff sucks, my house smells, and its making me sick. I read an amazon post about who was having the same problem the company told him to use lemon juice. After 3 applications of lemon juice smell is gone but wood is lighter. Sigh. Im going to have to try that. Anyone else have suggestions to eliminate this chemical smell please help me because the company wont. I paid $100 per gallon with shipping. What a HUGE disappointment!

I have a rental on a low budget to turn, but I have taste. 70’s dark brown muck cabinets...budget said we had to salvage them. They had NC tags on them, thought ‘they’ll sand ‘nice’. They did but the bases were not oak and the faces are oak. I opt’d to do the vinegar and steel wool stain and go for the drift wood effect. I did a water poly test and what a nightmare! my beautiful gray weathered cabinets went right back to dark brown (on nice mission furniture nice. On these cabinets NOT) Read blogs and got to the wipe on heirloom satin coating by Vermont. SO AMAZING! So happy with the outcome! I have the driftwood look, clear I didn’t add gray stain and it brought out the different grains of the mosh of woods that ended up being these cabinets. Not the original end we envisioned, but the best because Vermont Coatings allowed an amazing finish. They look custom! I’ll post pictures when done. Anyone wanting to preserve that driftwood finish...this is it.

Four years now on a NYC apt floor and still gorgeous-- really made oak pop. Amazing to the barefoot touch too.

I did end up using it on pine floors in the kitchen. So far so good! I like the way it feels barefoot, too.

AK Parrain, did you use it over stain? How many coats?

I'm thinking of using it on a refinished maple dining table.

I have used polywhey a few times now on my floors on separate projects. There is very little oder going on , which is non-toxic anyway. But no smell after a couple days when fully cured. I’m not sure what some of the other reviews where complaining about. The floors have held up well with the whey finish. It’s is really strong as it has held up to kids and pets on the floor daily. I highly recommend if you are looking for a green product. The best part about using VNC polywhey is that it dries so fast you can do three coats in one day.

After 5 yrs, still looks good on my pine floor

@slyncook Did you use the Sunwarden first to prevent yellowing or just straight on PolyWhey for your pine floors? I have reclaimed pine floors and have decided to go with the Vermont Naturals PolyWhey in Satin but was advised to use the Sunwarden first if I didn't want the color to get too orange. Thanks!

That’s probably a good idea. But Sunwarden did not exist when I did my floors some years ago. I knew prior, it would yellow some with age but I was okay with that.

"...I responded politely saying that they should absorb that cost .." Sheesh, Erin D.

I have no relation to that company, but have been going bats trying to keep toxins out of our reno, and it's clear that creating green products is plenty of uphill. Negative profit margins, high research costs, and consumers who keep choosing toxic cheapos anyway. Both startups and subsidiaries are at risk of getting snuffed out at any time, then we have no options. Do you propose that these people should just 'gift' you $36? Like they dropped cash by your feet and now need to prostrate themselves in order to get their property back? Then you're wasting their manhours or messing with that employee's position for...your entertainment? Yow.

Hi if anyone is out there, I'd like to pick up this thread. Has anyone tried to remove polywhey? It is a great product but just produced a color that I highly dislike (NOT the product's fault; just my taste). Wondering if there is any non-toxic chemical way to do this. There is WAY too much surface area to sand it off...I was wondering if any of the Peelaway products, for example, might do it.