I sanded, stained and finished my second floor, which I now think was yellow pine, w minwax red oak.
It was a pain as the hallway had grain running perpendicular.
The floors came out ok, some bubbles, were happy with them, I surprised especially when I realize that pine is not usually stained dark w good results.
FYI: random orbital sanded left swirly marks even when set at 100+ grit, drum sander did not.
I am now doing the last room on my second floor, plan to stain it the same.
I did NOT pop the grain before.

[b][b]Questions are:
1. Is this floor southern yellow knotty pine?
2. I plan to apply minwax red oak stain (as I did on the rest of the second floor), should I pop the grain?
3. To pop the grain, apply water w rag, and wait 2 hrs or overnight?
4. I have a doorway where the new sanding meets my recently redone red oak stained floors, what do I do? Feather out the sanding? Leave as is? Feather out more?[/b]
5. My sanding pattern was 24-36-60-80, w edge and I am going to palm sand out the edger swirls. Sound ok? No need to go to 100 as I am staining right?[/b]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66971271@N07/
Thanks

I have already done my second floor except for this room w minwax red oak stain.
This is the last room on the floor I am doing, I did 24-36-60-80, last time I went all the way to 100.

I decided to POP the grain with water and rag this time
I did so and it appears blotchy (see update pic page from last post).
I did not POP the grain last time.
The floors did not come out blotchy last time.
Will the stain come out blotchy w my yellow pine?

Someone allay my fears. Or confirm them.
Do I need a stain conditioner?
Thanks

If you pop the floor, it will make the stain come out a lot darker than the other floors. You might want to re buff it and bring the grain back down. Popping shouldn't really make the floor more or less blotchy.Just darker really.