Eight wood floor finishes were applied to quarter-sawn, red oak flooring blocks and, along with a factory finished block, were tested under laboratory conditions to determine the degree of wear of each of the finishes. A loss in film thickness of the finish was considered wear. Test blocks included four replicates each of polyurethane, vinyl, epoxy, amino resin, lacquer, shellac, varnish, penetrating seal, and a prefinished specimen. Blocks were tested on the Simulated Human Wear Producing Machine consisting of a treadmill and cam-operated legs and feet developed by Dr. Henry Bowen and his engineering students of the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. A Zeiss Light-Section Microscope was used to measure the film thickness of finishes. Four measurements were recorded from predetermined locations and the mean computed for each test specimen of each finish before testing and during testing at one, two, four, five, six, and eight hour intervals. Blocks were rotated on the machine after each measurement period
