water based conditioner under oil based stain

So far weve only found a few finishes that stand up to these requirements.

Over the next few months well be testing several these new hardwax oil (or hardened oil) finishes that have entered market here in the States.

For this post were going to dive right in to our first hardwax oil test subject OSMO Polyx 2K Oil See below for our OSMO Polyx Oil 2K 2020 update.

The OSMO Polyx Oil finish system comes from Germany where its been in use for many, many years.

Its only recently gained steam over on this side of the pond though.

Weve used it about 10 times during the last few months so weve had a pretty good test run with it.

Heres a rundown of features and benefits from the OSMO marketing material: OSMO Polyx-Oil 2K Features: The finish is blended from natural plant oils and waxes Once cured its highly water resistant It is very environmentally friendly with low VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) Doesnt stink up and drive you out of your home like some finishes will Doesnt form a plastic film like other varnish, acrylic and polyurethane finishes Its easy to look after and maintain OSMO Polyx-Oil 2K Benefits: Safe to use and have in your home with environmentally friendly ingredients Its approved safe for bench tops, food preparation areas and childrens toys It wont off-gas bad fumes, chemicals and smells for weeks after its applied Can be used in domestic as well as commercial applications Enhances the beauty of your timbers natural grain It binds to wood grain and will not flake, blister or peel Damage can easily be spot repaired Thats a pretty impressive list of claims.

If it doesnt pass the workshop test then theres no use wasting time and potentially ruining a good floor.

After some testing and messing about we had our first sample boards done.

The application was quite easy and the durability seemed pretty impressive as it endured all sorts of abuse in our attempts to scratch and damage it.

Dry time was adequate, VOCs were very low and the smell was nothing compared to an oil based finish.

Step one passed, onto the next stage STEP 2: The next step was to find a floor to test it out on in the real world.

In stepped our good friend Arvydas from Arch Remodeling (you can see some of our other projects with him on our Photos page).

Arvydas is an amazing contractor and is always willing to try new products and systems like us to better his game.

He also had the perfect floor in Orland Park, Illinois beautiful random width French white oak that was ready to refinish so it was a perfect match This was the first real life subject of our Hardwax Oil Experiment We think the natural hardwax oil finish looks great over the Golden Brown stain After this job turned out so well we were eager to try it again.

Our chance came a few weeks later with another hardwood floor in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

The project was a kitchen that the homeowner wanted to be able to be able to easily maintain if it got scratched and abused.

This time we stained the floors 50 percent Ebony and then coated them with OSMO Polyx Hardwax Oil.

You can see the results in the pictures below Heres a photo from the other direction Arvydas (Arch Remodeling) was so impressed with the first OSMO project we did for him that he called us in again a few months later to use it again.

His latest project was a remodel of a basement in Orland Park, IL.

The goal was to turn it into a very cool wine cellar and a cool and trendy downstairs getawayretreat for the client to relax in.

It would feature a bar, a comfy seating area with a big screen flat panel TV and surround sound system, a cozy fireplace, a wine room complete with a top-end stainless steel wine cooler and pretty much everything else you could want for the perfect chill out spot.

Since there was no wine available yet, our interests soon turned to the beautiful Mesquite end grain flooring he had recently installed.

You can see a picture of the finished product below to see how beautiful the Mesquite flooring looks and how the project turned out.

So what are our impressions of this finish system Well lets go back to the basics of what we look for in a finish: Has to look good Be long-lasting, durable to traffic and resistant to spills Have relative easy maintenance and repair Not yellow excessively over time Not have high VOCs and stink up the home for days on end Not take forever to cure Thats a pretty tall order, but one we wont compromise on.

Water Based Conditioner Under Oil Based Stain