Modern catalyzed water base clear finish is much tougher than past versions of oil poly so use it with confidence. Which to use? Ask the maintenance dept at the local high school what they put on gym floors.

Here are our 1919 maple floors that were stripped and refinished about 18 months ago. We did not stain them and did use an oil finish - oil not poly. We are really pleased with the durability.

Wow, your floors are beautiful! I hadn't even considered an oil finish with no poly. It sounds a bit scary, though! Our floor guy told us we would need three coats of oil poly to achieve the durability we would need with our animals... I'll have to ask him about this.

I used three coats of oil based poly on our maple floors and we have dogs. After 8 years, I am not happy with the finish. While I never expected the gloss sheen to last on traffic areas, I did expect the finish to last. I find now, I will need to refinish several areas---and poly finishes do not feather and blend well.

"Natural' oil finishes generally have other chemicals(not necessarily natural). There are two kinds of oil finishes, curing(non drying) and drying. The curing variety is not considered a finish, but a treatment that provides some protection to wood. Edible oils(peanut/olive/mineral) are examples. Soap and water can remove these oils.

Drying oils are a finish that dries and is not easily removed. Nut oils are generally considered drying oil finishes. Most drying oil finishes for flooring has added chemicals. Those varieties used in Europe have a long history of use and reliability.

Our floors are finished with drying oil. We were out of town for the 2 days it took to dry and the fumes subsided.