I am an experienced refinisher but am a bit puzzled by an existing ebony finished oak floor. I replaced water damaged wood around a toilet, and after sanding and staining the ebony stain dried a more reddish tint than the existing floor around it. The only possible reason I can come up with is maybe the original flooring was White oak while I used red oak for the repair. Any other ideas? Is it still possible to correct this without a tearout again? Thanks

Sometimes a very dark stain will make it hard to determine which specie of oak it takes to match. In this case the black stain doesn't cover the red color. Try a white oak patch if you aren't sure that you used the right specie. White oak does not have the red color that is so prominent in Southern red oak. This is the best fix. Sanding again and bleaching the patch only will be a long process

so, bleaching this area before staining is an option? The area is small...just around a toilet, so it could be a quick fix if it works. Has anyone tried bleaching red oak for ebony color matching? I'd rather try this first if the homeowner has the extra time for experimenting.

Bleaching will take the red out, if you use the right bleach. A two part bleach will work great. You still need to sand to bare wood. Be careful not to get any on the adjacent boards!
White oak is more water resistant. Red oak has little holes on the end grain where white oak has little scales that block the same holes in the Spring growth where the spring leaf-out draws water up to support the leaf growth. Red oak has holes like a drinking straw that allow air to be blown through. If you put one end of a board in the water and blow through one end of the board, the other end will make bubbles!