"Varnishing" 50 year old floorboards with exposed(by sanding) nail heads?

[difflock]

The daughter's house, she has sanded the floors, which were previously exposed and varnished(polyurethane presumably?) which has left the nail heads bright and shiny.

She does not want to take the time to countersink and fill every nail, nor does she mind seeing the nailheads.

She has purchased Johnstone's polyurethane floor varnish, but it says not suitable for over metal, plus the bloke in the store told her she would need to countersink and fill each and every nailhead.

The floorboards are quite rough, hence her lack of concern with "seeing" the exposed nailheads.

Thoughts, please.

Marcus

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, difflock said:

The daughter's house, she has sanded the floors, which were previously exposed and varnished(polyurethane presumably?) which has left the nail heads bright and shiny.

She does not want to take the time to countersink and fill every nail, nor does she mind seeing the nailheads.

She has purchased Johnstone's polyurethane floor varnish, but it says not suitable for over metal, plus the bloke in the store told her she would need to countersink and fill each and every nailhead.

The floorboards are quite rough, hence her lack of concern with "seeing" the exposed nailheads.

Thoughts, please.

Marcus

I think it will be fine, but I guess test it on a small patch first.  Is it spirit based varnish?  I have used traditional varnish on metal with no problems.

[difflock]

Thank you.

That was my though too.

I may persuade her to let me countersink them a bit first.

But they were simply varnished over before.

Without issue.

P.S. 

Johnstone's Polyurethane floor varnish, as far as I am aware, the tins no longer being here.

Cheers again.

Marcus

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by difflock

[Woodworks]

I would use a punch to make sure the nail heads are just below the surface so she can sand between coats if need be without wrecking the sander. Traditional polyurethane should be fine but imagine some of the modern water bases ones might produce rust marks but I doubt it. Just do a little test as said 

[stuckinthemud]

Punch the nailheads in but the wood will seal over them no need to fill.

[Baldbloke]

The daughter's house, she has sanded the floors, which were previously exposed and varnished(polyurethane presumably?) which has left the nail heads bright and shiny.

She does not want to take the time to countersink and fill every nail, nor does she mind seeing the nailheads.

She has purchased Johnstone's polyurethane floor varnish, but it says not suitable for over metal, plus the bloke in the store told her she would need to countersink and fill each and every nailhead.

The floorboards are quite rough, hence her lack of concern with "seeing" the exposed nailheads.

Thoughts, please.

Marcus

Just about to start on a 38 square m room with a rough part painted Georgian pine boarded floor that’ll need some replacement boards, a lot of sanding and finishing. What we do is punch in any exposed nails and retain the second sanding dust to add to a two pack varnish. (Hardener + the varnish). Start at one end and work to the other squeegeeing it into all the crevasses without overworking it. Given a few minutes and you get a beautiful finish. Preparation is the key[emoji1303]

Any holes and gaps originally there get filled in perfectly.

[difflock]

BB.

Do you mix the sawdust through the 2 pack varnish, like through all of it?

I guess from your wording and presuming the 2 pack acts like the stuff they use for the deeply fissured/rotten wood table tops and

that you are using it to  fill the gaps/cravesses in your Georgian floor?

I doubt work daughter will "spring" for 2 pack, or be prepared to use such volumes.

Thank you all btw.

Cheers

Marcus

P.S.

Her be for spending her valuable time off today sunbathing at the boat club.

While her would done retired Da goes out to do a 10 Hr days work!

 

 

[drinksloe]

If u punched the nails down could u not resand it to get floor smoother??

Even hire the proper big industrial belt sander in?

 

I'm amazed she managed to sand the floor with he nail heads, docking up i thought they would be torture on the sanding belts/discs.

I know when I done mine punched everything down 1st as the sanding belts for the big sander we hired weren't that cheap ( plus lot time driving 30mins each way to get more, and finding time as long it after work)

[Paddy1000111]

I've used osmo polyx high solid with great success. Polyeurathane in my experience is good until it goes wrong like you scratch it or mess a bit up. You can touch up Osmo as it's more like an oil. It also won't have issues with metal heads 

[difflock]

I am a fan of the Osmo products, and used a dreedle in the arse of a can to do the saddle boards.(which I had removed) but her will not pay that sort of money.

She is ogling a fancy Italian handbag though, but that would be classef as an essential purchase you understand!

Btw.

She hired a drum floor sander, and there was zero issue with protruding nail heads.The shitty varnish/carpet glue did gum up a couple of belts prematurely though.

Edited April 24, 2021 by difflock