I plan to use black walnut for the stair treads in my home. There will be heavy dog traffic so the finish should be very durable. What do you all suggest for this application. I know there is another walnut thread going but this is black walnut and in a high traffic area. Thanks for reading.
Mike Callahan, Lake Tahoe, Ca.
Replies
I can think of no practical finish that will stand up to dog claws except perhaps some of the catalyzed finishes. I would lean more toward a repairable finish such as oil or tung-oil varnish such as Waterlox.
I put in a black walnut floor and stairs about 15 yrs ago, finished with 3 coats of a hard acrylic floor finish, let it dry for a week. Then they let the dog in and in a month it looked like s##t , the dog claws not only tore up the finish, but scratched the wood as well. You might consider declawing the dog.
Thank you for you replies. I think the oil finish might be the way to go. I don't plan on using a stain so the color won't wear off. Just the nosing on the treads will be wood. The rest of the tread and the risers will be stone tile. There is a closed stringer.
Here is a drawing showing a rough depiction of my steps. I am still open to suggestions. I know black walnut is not very hard and will probably scratch up a lot. My wife vetoed white oak or hard maple. Oh well. Character.
Mike Callahan, Lake Tahoe, Ca.
Go with oak, maple, or ipe, making the noses out of walnut will be wasting a lot of effort, walnut isn't commonly used as a flooring, let alone a stair nosing, for a reason.
John W.
Edited 8/17/2004 7:35 am ET by JohnW
Mesquite is dark, and about twice as hard as walnut. Some of the imports are quite a bit harder yet.
I tore off the carpet from our landing and stairs and rebuilt with ash skirt board, treads and risers.
http://www.superwoodworks.com/Projects/Stairs.htm
I used 3 coats of deft gloss oil base polly and the last coat I used Minwax Satin poly (because I could not find anyone that carried deft satin). This has seemed to old up well. We just have a small collie but he tears up and down the stairs constantly with sharp nails.
Garry
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