Junckers Hardwax Oil saga - can anyone advise?

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Hi all

This is a bit of saga - apologies - but could really do with some advice.

We had a professional floor finisher come out in early December to sand and seal our kitchen floor with Junckers Hardwax Oil, the oil product he recommended. The floor is 1950s parquet and thought to be mahogany - it's everywhere in our flat.

The guy sanded the floor back to 80 grit and then put on two coats of oil, first coat day one, second coat plus buffing day two. He told us it had a 24 hours drying time. We waiting for 48 hours then covered it up with loose vinyl to protect it while the new kitchen was fitted.

On Christmas day we lifted the vinyl and while it looked great - beautiful colour, mid sheen - it immediately became apparent something was very wrong - a tiny splash of water, no matter how quickly wiped up, a sweaty-socked foot, left a grey mark on the wood that wouldn't buff out. We covered it back up to prevent any more damage and let the floor guy know there was a problem.

On Monday the floor guy came back out. He said the problem was that the floor needed 6 days to cure and so when we covered it up something went wrong with the cure hence problems. This was the first cure time was mentioned. This led me to google the technical sheet for the oil. I noticed it said three not two coats of oil for high traffic areas; that it said 16 hours before buffing and 6 days cure.

So, to fix the job, the floor guy sanded the floor with a small hand sanding machine to get the marks out and put another single coat of oil on. We have dutifully left it the six days.

It now looks dull, patchy and even walking on it in socks leaves dull marks and the water problem still seems to be present although not as badly. I asked the floor guy and he has kindly suggested he come back out and buff it but I am not sure this will fix it as you can see the difference in sheen in the corners where the original finish was compared with where he has sanded it back - much shinier originally - which makes me wonder is there enough oil on the floor?

So what I'm wondering is -
a) does the floor really need another coat of oil given it's high traffic and still is marking (it had two, was sanded back and then another one)
b) was the problem caused by the cure issue and if so why is it happening again or
c) was it to do with buffing too soon and basically buffing the oil back off?

We really need to get this sorted out as everytime another coat goes on that's another six days out of the kitchen but I am concerned that we *still* have a problem and buffing it is possibly not the answer and I don't want the guy to buff it if that's not going to solve the problem and possibly we need another coat of oil on.....but I don't know enough about it. Any advice would really be appreciated.


Can anyone help?

Thanks
Mu
 
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Buffing after the second coat was applied is normal.

Where he IMHO went wrong is not sanding with 120 - which is normally the last sanding round and the highest grit you should use when oiling a floor.

Secondly: tropical woods are oily on their own, using HardWaxOil can give a patchy result when the oil in the HWO is not able to penetrate the wood as much as it should - due to the character of a tropical wood-species - and the wax in HWO starts interfering with the process. We normally would recommend to use a single thin oil for long term protection and when this has dried (overnight) to apply one or two coats of wax or wax-polish.

Not given the HWO time to cure fully has also not helped your case. Sanding only the patchy areas back a little bit and then applying a new coat of HWO is not solving this problem (it is in fact adding to the curing time).

Let him try to buff it all out, as long as he uses a (semi) professional buffer which is heavy and speedy enough to do this. Using a semi-course pad will roughen the finish layer up a bit. Then let him apply a wax-polish and NOT another coat of HWO!
There could be slight patches after this treatment, but they will eventually fade (get an old-fashion buffing block and buff over it without adding any product every one or two days will help to speed up this process.
 
Alternatively ask him to come back, sand the entire floor and apply a finish that won't go wrong. Something like Junckers HP professional or Aquacoat XTRA will do the job quickly , offer far better protection than the HWO and is available in a subtle matt finish.

Not sure why they should be allowed to get away with leaving you with a floor that will require wax polish treatment.
 
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Wrong. Wrong and wrong.

All the so called professionals. Wrong.

Only the customer was right.

Needed to be sanded back as it didn't cure properly. Oil needs free oxygen and for solvent to evaporate.

Oil finishes are no good for oily woods. Wrong. Oil finishes are perfect for oily woods.

You should sand back and apply a water based lacquer. Wrong. That would not adher as the oil takes 6 months to fully harden. Even then you might get away with it only if you used a shellac barrier pre seal.

Lol.
 

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