Has anyone had luck with applying stain to wood floors using a buffer.
I found a site that sells the pads and I'm wondering who has tried this.

Fred

This is the way we always stain. Once you do it you will never go back to your old way.

Yup, been doing it that way for years, but being the cheap ole fogie that I am, I cut buffing pads out of old carpeting removed from various jobs.

What's the technique??? Sounds hokey. I'd like some pics please

They actually showed us that at the Bona school. I Haven't tried it yet but would only do it with their stain because of how it blends.

Jeff do you like the Bona stain better than Duraseal / Minwax? Blends easy?

Everett seems to be a master at this. Love his video too!

http://www.flooringinstaller.com/video/ ... board-view

The first one he did.

http://www.flooringinstaller.com/video/buffer-staining

I haven't used the duraseal mostly Bona and only minwax if the customer has their heart set on a color.

Buffing stain on is totally possible but there's a few things to know:

The first thing is that I don't know of anyone buffing on any other brand stain than Bonakemi . If any of you guys successfully buff on other stains, please ring in and tell which brand you use.

Bonakemi stains have the ability to only penetrate to a certain point and also the re activate itself so you don't get lap marks.

The second thing to know is that a piece of plush carpet remnant is what works so don't feel the need to buy special buffing material. Just get a cheap piece of plush carpet cut off from your local carpet store and cut the appropriate circle out of it.You still need to cut in with a brush and possibly do a little hand blending on edges or corners. Pour a cup full of Bona stain onto the carpet pile (not the back side) , put it on the floor and hop to it.

The third thing to know is that as the carpet spins on the floor with a 100 pound buffer on top of it, you begin to burnish the wood a little bit. So be aware that the buffing process might make the color a little lighter than if you were to apply the stain by hand. Also, don't spend a lot of time in the corners or you'll polish them and see a dark spot in the corner where the buffer can't reach.

I've successfully buffed stain onto a lot of floors but there are limits to what you can do. I wouldn't try to buff on Minwax Dark Walnut for instance. And the only failure I had was when I buffed on Bona Kemi white stain . It looked perfect ,dried thoroughly and then as I started applying traffic over it, the stain started lifting. I re sanded the floor, popped the grain with water that was cut about 50% with alcohol ,re stained by hand and then finished with 3 coats of traffic and it looked perfect.

Duraseal



I prefer carpet removed from jobs, far less chance of fibres coming loose and getting imbedded in a finish coat

Well, that plus it's free. I would do the same thing . My only concern is if the removed carpet is nasty. Lots of the carpets I have removed over the years have human/animal urine in them and were shampooed with God knows what .

Other than that, it makes sense to cut up a removed carpet. I generally vacuum the field of the floor after buffing on stain just to be safe.Thanks for the tip on DuraSeal stain.

Ya, you do have to be careful about the carpet but with so many being removed its easy to be selective on what to keep. I usually have one of the warehouse grunts cut up a bunch of them when we get the right carpet.
The way we use the duraseal is to apply it with an applicator, (one guy) while the second buffs it into the floor, then the first guy does the edge wiping and blending.
It wont work the same as the Bona buffing stains, but sure turns out nice.

Hey just an FYI for buffing

I tried it for the first time last week with Duraseal Quick Dry in Dark Walnut. It was flawless. The only issues I had were closets where the corners are a bit darker. I cannot get over the consistency of buffing. There is a need to go over the entire room once it has all been covered, so wear so slip-on bootie covers (was wearing two pairs of wool socks - they got ruined). Make sure you cover your tracks on your way out. I did spill some stain as I knocked over a can full of stain with my buffer cord. It sat for a few minutes before I noticed it. If it wasn't for the buffer I would have had dark spots. They came right out. This process is so forgiving it's unbelievable. I am picky, and this process is consistent.

We use minwax.
We actually applicate and brush it on. Then mop up most of the excess, then we buff off.
This way we don't use up more carpet pads then we can afford!