Timber steps - what finish

[Burnsy]

I am helping a mate do s set of floating timber steps in his new house using laminated hardwood beam as treads. Anyone got any clever suggestions for finish and application? He wants hard wearing like carbothane but anything self levelling like that is going to leave drips around the edge.

Ideas?

[Master Splinter]

Tung Oil perhaps?

[Burnsy]

That was my first suggestion as well MS but he was not keen on an oil. May change his mind when we do a few trial pieces as short of spraying every tread with hundreds of coats to get build up I can't see how we could put any of the usual hard wearing floor coatings on them without getting drip lines as they are all going to be square cut to fit with a modern look.

[Chesand]

I used Estapol Satin (3 or 4 coats if I remember correctly) on our hardwood staircase some 35+ years ago. It has stood up well but could probably do with a sand and recoat now. Might be worth trying on a test piece.
The biggest danger to the finish is spikey heels on shoes