what kind of wood is this?

Knucklez · Apr 30, 2009

house is located in southern ontario Canada. it is around 100 yrs old. floors are original to the house. there are no knotts at all.

here is the BEFORE picture.. see how bad shape the floors are in?

AFTER 5 hours of sanding...

next i must rent the edger & apply stain.

question: what kind of wood is this?

i have compared the white wood with a piece of oak i had from HD. looks similar. the red coloured wood, what is this?

Gary_602z · Apr 30, 2009

Possibly red oak?

Gary

Knucklez · Apr 30, 2009

never heard of such a thing.. but sounds about right

Leah Frances · Apr 30, 2009

Wow. Don't stain it - throw down some polyurethane - it's looks awesome.

Daniel Holzman · Apr 30, 2009

The light colored wood looks like maple, the dark colored could be cherry, hard to tell in the photo. Looks much too red to be oak. Cherry is a hard wood, not quite as hard as maple, if you can scratch it easily with a fingernail it is probably not cherry.

hayewe farm · Apr 30, 2009

If you could get a little closer picture of the wood grain it might be easier to tell. Cherry and maple sounds like a good guess.

Thurman · Apr 30, 2009

I'm sitting here admiring the craftsmanship that went into installing that floor. I agree with the poly coat, please don't stain it. It is definitely different and I like it.

KOHNSTRUCTION · Apr 30, 2009

poly poly poly poly poly!!!!!!

that is a unique situation poly poly poly!!!

i say poly only!

awesome find

Ron6519 · Apr 30, 2009

Could also be mahogany and maple.
Ron

RegeSullivan · Apr 30, 2009

Wow what a great find... It would kill me to stain that floor if it were in my house but you gotta do what look right. Is there any other similar features in this house you could share with us like built ins, interesting trim or a decorative staircase???

Rege

joed · Apr 30, 2009

Not a close enough image to determine wood type.

Mop in Hand · May 1, 2009

Looks great, the only other time I have seen this is on a boat. Poly or oil for sure.

Termite · May 1, 2009

Fir flooring was very common that long ago. It would be a local material as well.

DangerMouse · May 1, 2009

looks like cherry/maple to me.... take a few close ups of some knotty/grained areas and we can tell better.
i think definitely 2 separate wood species though, as sanding would have removed most/all stain.
it also looks like that someone created that floor custom, as i see no butted edges in the planks.
you probably won't find 12'+ planks of flooring in bigbox stores... heh heh

DM

ratherbefishin' · May 1, 2009

Another vote for cherry and maple. Look at the end of the seventh board from the right, just in front of the waste pipe. Is that a curly grain I see there?
I think I'd go a step beyond ordinary poly and protect that beautiful old craftsmanship with a gym floor finish.

Macros would really help, though. Can't zoom it enough to tell for sure without being too blurred.

Thurman · May 1, 2009

Please, you have us all drooling now. Could you possibly post better, maybe macro pictures? This floor is so unique and should be saved- -PERIOD! I consider you very lucky. Thanks, David

Yoyizit · May 1, 2009

another vote

If you have a loose sample, weigh it and measure its volume and compare it to the listed densities for dry wood.
Maple is 39 to 47 pounds/cu. ft. = 0.36 to 43 oz/cu. in.

Knucklez · May 2, 2009

wow, was not expecting such an out burst of enthusiasm. my wife is saying the same sort of things.. but the rest of our house has oak with dark walnut stain. so she prefers the floor a bit darker to go with the flow. she definately loves the floors though!

with this in mind, i went to HD and picked up some pre-tinted dark walnut wood filler and filled any of the old nail holes. see the dark smudge on the white piece of wood, right hand side. i will go over this with a piece of 100grit sand paper so only the nail hole is covered with the wood fill (waiting for it to dry).

here are some close up pictures:

and notice the swirl marks i left with my amateur edger technique... i plan on going over it with 100 grit orbital sander, hand held. i must make these floors look perfect..

Knucklez · May 2, 2009

you wouldn't believe what i went though to find this floor..

you can see the entire back store by clicking HERE

Knucklez

Knucklez · May 2, 2009

Yoyizit , i only had one lose sample and it was old and ugly. i threw it in the garbage and replaced with a piece of oak i got from HD. this was back before i sanded the floors and realized what i had.

otherwise, the floor is solid, nothing lose. each piece is 1" thick, 3" wide and lays directly on the floor joist. it is tounge & gove.

what kind of wood is this?

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