Ironbark

This magnificent Ironbark floor in Mt Eliza had everyone fooled. The owners and the Estate agent both told me it was Jarrah, and I ran with that, thinking they knew what was laid down as a floor in the first place, so they must be right? 

Nope, wrong. It was already there when they purchased the home and were told it was Jarrah by the original builder. So, once I got into the sanding I've gone "Hang on, wait a minute, this isn't Jarrah, it's top quality Ironbark" Which for me was great as it's my favourite timber, to both sand and look at.

It was a bit all over the shop when we started, and looked to have been sanded in two different stages by two different sanding contractors. Which, from a professional point of view, is always interesting to see the results others come up with, using different sanding techniques.

Anyway, off came all the old work and the boards were sanded to our super fine finish before the fresh coats of polyurethane were applied. The final finish here is an amazing solvent-based coating called 'Silky Matt' from a local company Polycure. This finish is the finest I've ever experienced. It has depth, strength and the silkiest matt sheen of them all.

These pictures may just help sway you towards Ironbark for your own home - you couldn't go wrong if you did. 

With the first coats of polyurethane on we have now built up some serious protection for the boards. Our next task is to cutback between the coats to give it that superfine look. This is a really important step in the process.

Ironbark comes in two varieties. Red Ironbark, as featured on this page, and the other is Grey Ironbark - which is even tougher, and more durable than the Red variation. 

The Red Ironbark is used as flooring more often than the grey - mainly due to it's excellent colour.