They’re beautiful, the wood floors we do for our clients --fine functional furniture. I love that our clients treasure them and want them to be perfect.

But, when all the dust has cleared and the last guest has gone – at the end of the day -- you’ve got to feel good walking all over them, because they’re your floors. That’s what they’re for. You have to use them. What else will you walk on?

I know you want them to be beautiful and to stay that way. You can love them and care for them or simply get along with them, but they’re still your floors and they’re what you’ve got to stand on. So, unless they last, how good are they, really?

We can make them look like a work of art, but they don’t belong in a frame on the wall. We hope you’re happy using them as they were intended -- like no other piece of furniture or woodwork in your home.

It’s pointless to worry how they look in this light or that. The occasional blemish or defect occurs in all natural products. Those are character. Every wood floor – including yours – will have them. Character makes them unique. Site finished floors are hand worked, so they will have even more character. 

What you really need to worry about is how long your floors will last. How are they to clean – and stay clean? How good will they look in 5 years or 25? How will they take the abuse you and your family (and friends) will give them over time? Will you still love them then? Those are the most important issues to keep in mind. The true beauty of real wood floors is how they look – lived on. Their beauty is not skin deep. It runs all the way through.

We all love happy customers – especially me. Just know we work the hardest on the crucial qualities of your floor. The longer you have your floor, the more you’ll appreciate our work.

THANK YOU!

Don Bollinger

MAKING A COLOR CORRECTING PUTTY FROM GRAIN (PORE) FILLER (May 2007) 

Tinting crack and hole fillers to match exotic wood species can be a tricky business. Most exotics wood species change color significantly over time. If the tinted filler you use does not change color over time with the species you filled, your filler will stand out like a sore thumb. I recommend you mix fine dust from the species you're filling with a clear or tinted filler (either VOC or water based). That way, your filled areas will adjust in color along with the species they’re filling. 

Wood Floor Products, Inc. in Seattle, Washington makes a variety of different water based wood filling products. One of their products is a Wood Grain Filler (sold under the trade name WOOD STUFF) that a lot of discerning wood finishers and manufacturers (from musical instrument makers to wood flooring contractors) use for filling exotics as well as domestic species. The product was designed to fill the pores and wood grain, so it is quite thin (similar in viscosity to latex paint) and comes in a variety of colors that can be mixed to achieve the desire tone or hue. The product contains a strong resin or binder that combines readily with wood dust. This Grain Filler can be combined with the extremely fine dust of any wood species to make a color correcting crack and hole filler for that species.

To formulate your own custom mix, you begin by combining different tints or colors of WOOD STUFF Grain Filler until you approximate that of the species you are filling. Then, just before filling, mix in some fine wood dust from that species you are sanding and finishing until you have a putty-like consistency. The finer the consistency of the wood dust, the better your filler will perform. You've just created you own custom-color matching filler that will work for virtually any exotic (or domestic) wood species that, even after finishing, will change consistently with that of the species you filled.

Kept in a jar and away from additional oxygen, your custom mixes will last for some time. Keep in mind however, that wood dust is a food and when mixed with water is subject to decay or bacteria growth overtime. It's usually best to make only enough filler for what you need for a particular job.

Don 
Don Bollinger
don@woodfloorco.com
Wood Floor Products, Inc.

If you want more information on these products, please contact me directly or Wood Floor Products, Inc. (206) 622-6996 (7-4:30 PST) (Monday – Friday) 

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