Have any of you done it? I don't want to go with any type of poly finish on my cabin floor and have been leaning toward something along the lines of linseed oil. I'm scribing in 12" wide pine around the perimeter and filling in the field with 5 1/2" tamarack.

I'm assuming it's going to take oil quite a long time to set before it can be walked on in bare feet. Any recommendations?

Here's my interpretation of a scribed board. It didn't come out too bad.

Maybe try oiling BEFORE nailing down? You can work off saw horses or ? without having to bend over or crawl around.

I think boiled linseed oil cut with turpentine, or thinners should dry pretty fast.

On our old deck boats, they were treated with linseed oil and turpentine and that dried in a couple days, of course that was in the sun...YMMV

Posco -

Looks great, man! I love the scribed fitting. You might try "floor hardener". It's a chevron product, I think. I think BigBob's idea is better, too. Oil it before installation, and do both sides. Will preserve it better; lasts a lot longer.

Thanks for the suggestions and compliments, guys. This slid back fast and I just noticed some of them as I was looking to update the progress.

The flooring is locally milled tamarack. Bandsaw. I planed it and brought it true along its length with my tablesaw.
I mentioned elsewhere I was using cut nails. I'm happy with the look at this point. I'm measuring and drilling each and every hole as I go along.

Question. Have any of you ever used an orbital floor sander? I was hoping to get away without sanding but there is too much imperfection to let it slide. My planing skills were lacking.

These work great for what you're doing

Should be a rental place near you that has something like this

And this for tight places

The front wheel is small and the top guard flips back out of the way

Looks good Sir

And I'd use tong or teak oil in 3 or 4 light costs until you get the shean you want

Is that a drum sander or orbital sander? I don't think I can be trusted with a drum sander.

Drum sander are better in my opinion because they can sand with the grain.
Orbital sander leave small scratches across the grain. Of course you can make an orbital sander do the same smooth finish but you need to do it multiple times with finer sandpaper each time
Thus more work

How much of a learning curve is involved with a drum sander? I've heard some horror stories.

Not to hard to use at all.
Your local rental place might have the one's that take a oversized piece of sandpaper, they only vibrant and there movement is controlled by you. I've used this type for cutting board type counter tops that I make

My vote is for the drum sander if you can find one to rent. Not a particularly steep learning curve; you'll master it quickly. Really reduces time. I think the floor looks fantastic, Posco!

Thank you, Jack. I really appreciate it.

These boards were curved/banana cut along their length. I set up a 20' long fence on my tablesaw. Clamped it in place. I placed the curve out toward the blade and tried to maintain the two points of contact with the fence as the board moved through the saw. I ran every board through that way, adjusted the width of the cut and ran every board through again on the opposite side.

The long fence made it possible to maintain that contact the entire length of the board. Otherwise, the board would have chased the short fence. I hope that makes sense.

Good job scribing the perimeter to the logs. Did you use a jigsaw?

I will say if you are hesitant to use the drum sander I would not. My only attempt using a drum sander yielded amateur results and I had to look at it for 20 years. The orbital would be the way to go imo.

My wife sanded our hard wood floor with a floor buffer. They have what looks like round scotch pads that you run under it. It just sits on them and spins them. The pads come in different coarseness. You can not get tight to the wall with one. But you can not see any scratches in the floor. She had done the gym floor a dozen times at the school.

I did use a jigsaw. The guys at the rental center helped me in my decision on a machine. Once they realized I face-nailed the flooring they refused to rent me a machine. They said it would destroy the pads. Palm sander here I come.

Look into Osmo polyx or Rubio monocoat. They were originally developed as oil/hard wax floor finishes in Germany I believe. I’ve been using them on furniture for quite some time. I prefer Osmo. General finishes also makes a oil/hard wax coating.

Osmo is spendy but worth it IMO.

Thanks for the responses, much appreciated.