I would've posted in the YIKES! thread, but I think I have a pretty damn good handle on this project.
I saw the video about plunge sawing down the middle, scoring and chiseling my destination cut, breaking
the bottom groove tongue on the new board and dropping in place.

All is great, except now upon test-polying a new strip to check for a match, it's quite a bit brighter than
the good-ol' 1927 maple in place. The grain is nice, the surface consistent and the boards are straight.

I'm just assuming that after it's all down and my last sanding is done, I'll have to somehow stain
to make a shade darker. I almost wish there was a neutral density color. It doesn't need to change
colors, just make a little darker. I have no problem with masking off to treat each board separately.

Anyone have any advice on how to weave this into the old floor with consistency?
Then my only problem will be that they don't have enough nail patches

thanks in advance

If I understand correctly, you're putting new pieces of flooring in and trying to match the new to existing color.
It can be difficult to stain maple, it tends to blotch, and chances are the existing maple has natural finish, just darkened with age.
I'd sand the room, then you can put clear finish on and the new boards will blend much better.
You can add stain to the finish (polyshade) for the first coat to give it a little color but this can be a bit tricky as well.

work with mixtures of minwax natural, puritan pine and /or golden oak stain.

start with 4-1 natural to darker stain..these usually work for pine and some map/e i have done

I just tried adding a little stain to some minwax to see if it would darken it up a bit.
It worked pretty well! Only thing I'm concerned about is that those boards will have a
coat already and then when I spread the whole enchilada it'll have a thicker feel to it.

So, next experiment is to dilute yes, a golden oak to some thinner and brushing that on. This way
I'll not have thicker poly on the new ones.

I love this stuff, can't wait to make it all work. I'm shocked at how well the Lum. Liq stuff actually
matches the old. Would be nice to have some figural though.

Is there a way to add photos to these threads? Would love to show demonstrative images of the workflow.
Thanks for the interest guys..

PS Floorpro: Yes, I'm weaving in and replacing small sections, a thorough Clark sanding will bring it all together.
But by 80 gritting clean some of the old with a test drop-in, the new board stands out a stark brighter contrast to the golden hue of the old stuff.

God bless that guy that posted blog vids on how to remove any portion of flooring with chisels and a circular. Works like a charm.
For the record, the makers mark on each board is embossed: "Old Reliable". Awesome.