We put 5 hard days into sanding hardwood floors, now we need to clean up a mess before finishing. We put Minwax nonhardening putty into the nail holes that held the carpet tack strips without realizing it would not harden. Worse, it left an oily circle around every hole. It did say on the back of the container that it was non-hardening, but in Lowes picking out a buggy full of materials we did not read the back of the container and see that. How do we get up the oily circles without having splotches in the floor? If this has been answered I apologize for reposting, but I did search and didn't find an answer

does the floor have finish on it now?

what type did you use?

no finish yet, it is down to the bare wood. We were getting ready to finish it after puttying the nail holes. Our concern is that the varnish won't stick to the places where the putty was. Our gut feeling is to brush out all the putty, then wipe with mineral spirits, let dry, and varnish. We hoped someone could advise in case we're about to make a bigger mess. Thanks for the response.

I don't see how you can get the oils out of the wood without completely sanding it out. Seems to me you'd have permanent splotches without doing so.