http://instagram.com/p/zOhqTxvMh_/

I'm hoping the Instagram link works, just don't have access to flickr at the moment. Just sanded floor and went to stain with minwax red mahogany and finding uneven staining spots. I know I've seen this post in the past, so hate to resurrect it again, but I cannot see any photos with the issue I'm having. It almost looks as if something was spilled and the only way to find it is through the stain. It is completely unseen before the stain - I did not notice any texture differences and floor felt even...but several spots are showing up like this. I did not seal first, figuring this was oak, not pine.. . But maybe I should? Please help...no clue as to what's happening here, and we are about to re-sand the entire floor, thinking it's something we did wrong. This did not happen in the test strips we ran inside the closet.

Thanks!
Sharon

It looks like old scratches that weren't sanded out. Or I had a problem once where I water popped a floor for stain and the next day we found out the homeowner was dragging a ladder around and it showed up when stain hit the floor.
Looks like a resand is necessary

Good luck

I did not water pop the floor, though I had considered it. Def don't want my stain to look any darker than that. I think the stain may be part of the problem. Because if it's darkness it really pops out the wood grain...and also these problems. I personally do not think this is old scratches. I added a couple more photos to my Dropbox to show what scratches look like (we had a few of them too). Could my vacuum have done this? I just don't want to re-sand the entire floor only for this problem to show up again. We ran the full gamut of sanders starting with the lowest (40 maybe) then 80 then 120. Scratches of this nature should have been gone. I can understand seeing ones from the belt sander, but these little ones...these are just odd.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ocldo5am5r8w ... plmca?dl=0

The first and last ones are def scratches. I also took a close up of the original pic where you can see the fine scratches the opposite direction of the dark staining. One almost looks like a footprint. Could someone have had grease on their shoes?

THE Floors were sanded against the gain so i'm sure you will see more blemishes and markings as you proceed.

this may also be the source of the blotchy spots or possible spills which will make dark areas.

the only thing top correct this at this point due too many issues is a full resand...do yourself a favor and hire a pro.