Last questions on finishing reclaimed woodblock floor

[veryfluffy]

After a process that has taken almost two years, I am just about ready to sand and finish my reclaimed woodblock floor. The blocks are 1 3/4 inc high, and some kind of pine. Any varnish or finish they have ever had is long since gone. I have laid them in a herringbone pattern, with a single edge of blocks all around, perpendicular to the wall. (And it actually turned out pretty well, if I may say so myself!)

Two last questions, if anyone can help.

1. Sanding
I was planning on hiring a Bona belt-sander. I understabd this is much better than a drum sander, but have also read that it is meant to be used only in the direction of the grain. Can it still be used on the herringbone pattern? If so, do I do it first in one direction than the other, or do I sand diagonally across the blocks?

2. Finishing
I am planning to go with the Osmo Hardwax oil. One warning was that using the ordinary clear version might turn my pine blocks orange. Has anyone found this? I don't actually know what colour my blocks will be when sanded, but I suspect they will be a lot lighter than they are now with their decades of dirt on them. I'd like to get a nice antique effect, so would I be better off using pine, beech, oak, or walnut colour? i would be very interested to hear of how any of these turned out.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[mac391]

Hi fluffy
I always use a drum sander on herringbone working north/south then east /west and diagonal lots of times, using smoother sandpaper as you go. I then mix the smoothest dust with lecol and fill any gaps that appear before finishing with an orbital sander to take away any marks left by the drum. it takes ages!!!

Unusual to find pine floor blocks ( you sure they're not oak ?) if you're not sure have someone check them to clarify because.... Osmo looks great on oak but it will definately turn pine orange..

 

[WoodYouLike]

We differ
We use a heavy beltsander to prevent shatter marks of the rod holding the sanding paper on the drum with a drum sander (which also from most hire-centres aren't heavy enough).

(Mac291, you're not a DIY-er doing this only once or twice in your lifetime so you got much more experience handling a drum sander and knowing what to do and what not to do with a machine like that).

As said, with a herringbone pattern and many other design parquet patterns your can't go "with the grain", so don't. Start in one direction from wall to wall, overlapping each sanding "tour" and then go perpendicular to the first direction with the same grit of paper.
If you have many height differences, start with grit 40 to get most of the differences off. Empty the sand dust bag and switch to grit 80 (clean and fine sand dust you can collect to mix with a wood filler to fill gaps if you like).
Finish with grit 120, not higher if you plan to finish with an oil or hardwaxoil.
As Mac says: natural finish will turn pine orange most of the times. We normally recommend to use Golden Oak coloured HardWaxOil to prevent this but still give a warm "Oaky" appearance to the floor.

 

[veryfluffy]

Unusual to find pine floor blocks ( you sure they're not oak ?) if you're not sure have someone check them to clarify because.... Osmo looks great on oak but it will definately turn pine orange..

Unfortunately, they aren't heavy enough to be oak, and just have that "pine" look about them.

So is it the Osmo Wood wax colour that goes on first, and then still two coats of the Polyx Oil?