My friend and I refinished my oaks hardwoods years ago. It was time consuming, but saved me a lot of money. We used a drum sander and an edger - both rented from my local big box hardware store.

With the drum, I started with a fine grit sandpaper until I got the hang of how it moved. They are huge, heavy and quite intimidating at first - also loud. So, I really wanted to get a feel for it first with a fine grit paper. After my first pass across the entire floor and I had a feel for the drum, I went to a coarser grit to really strip all of the old finish. I did the same thing with the edger. You have to remember to never let your drum sit running on the floor or you'll ruin your floor. Easy, steady and fluid pressure is the key. Also, you have to sand in the direction of the grain.

A note about the edgers: they are unwieldly little devils and they really do a number on your back.

Once all the finish was removed, I moved up to finer and finer grits of paper until I had a beautifully smooth surface. The drum comes with a vacuum bag that you can empty. Make sure to seal of your adjacent rooms with plastic, otherwise you'll have saw dust everywhere.

Then the fun part: sweeping, sweeping and sweeping. Then on hands and knees with cheese cloth to get up every last particle of dust - over and over again. This is important for the application of your stain and finish. You want a perfectly smooth surface with no particles.

After all that business, I stained the floor. I chose a natural. Then you have to let that dry. Afterwards, you go over it with your shellac or poly. I can't remember which I used. After that drys, you have to go over it again with the drum and edger with the finest grit paper available very, very lightly. This "rouhghens" it so the next layer sticks really well. Sweep and cheese cloth again. Apply another layer of shellac, let dry and apply the final coat.

I can't remember exactly, but I think I had to wait 8-10 hours between layers of shellac. I think it too me three days. It's a big job, but I was really pleased with the results.

I did this probably 15 years ago, so there may be some advances in technology or materials. But basically, I did a web search for detailed instructions and followed them to the letter.

Good luck!

Oh, you're probably going to have to remove that bull nose below the baseboard and refinish that, too.

Little late to this? Have you actually refinished your floors yet?

I was just doing some research on floor sanders myself when I stumbled across your question, so I figured I'd share! Sanding machines come in many shapes and sizes - so it helps to know what they all do and how they work. Check out this great article for plenty of tips:

https://easiklip.com/blogs/diy-hardwood-floor-blog/how-to-use-a-wood-floor-sander-machine