Greetings and Salutations...

On Sun, 10 Sep 2006 05:44:48 GMT, Nirodac wrote:

I'm currently shopping for prefininshed oak flooring, for the
first time.
The samples I've been finding all visually appear to have a
grain, as you would expect, with oak. But when touching the
surface I can feel no grain imprint. Looking at it at an angle
shows no blemish or indent in the surface, it just looks flat
and artifical. Is this a real "clear" finish on real oak or is
it a printed on pattern. Looking at the end grain sort of gives
the impression that it is the real grain, but how do they get it
so damn smooth.

Now...if it is "engineered" flooring, what you are looking
at is, basically, a very good quality photograph of oak planking,
printed on vinyl, and coated with a very strong clear-coat.
It is amazingly hard to tell it from the "real" thing, these
days, as it is very good. Short of taking a pocket knife to
the flooring, one can tell that it is engineered by laying
out the pieces in a box or two...you should find some pieces
that are clones of each other.
I am not entirely sure that it is possible to put enough
pore filler on real oak to make it that smooth, and still have
it look good. The grain is just too rugged.
Regards
Dave Mundt