I recently bough an older farm house, built in 1949, the floor was never refinished. I have no money to be hiring someone and with houses loosing value, the only way this is going to happen, is if I do it my self. The area is a small living room, the floor was covered with a carpet, which I yanked out some time ago.

Anywho, overtime there were a few spills of some type in a few spots, not that bad, the floor is oak, the old style of planks, thinner planks, not the modern wider ones. I sanded down the entire polly, with 80 grit paper using a 4 x 24 belt sander, and for someone who has never worked with floors, it looks pretty darn good! I still have a few spots to do, but overall, looks really good - and to be honest, this whole project is fun, not a bore, if I was doing this professionally, then maybe I would be using the proper sanding machine to be efficient on time, but whatever!!!! I am having fun. With the house being built in 1949, obviously the house is not perfect, there are a little cracks here and there, but that's what makes it "this old house", and I love this house :- )

So next I am doing to sand the floor again with 120 grit paper, I don't mind the extra time to work with the belt sander, I am using it pretty calmly and sanding things uniformly.

Here is the question... Should I stain or not ? I read some people that I should not stain, and that a nice amber color will emerge after the polly. At this point I have a little bit of work to do filling in some gaps with wood filler/putty, but after that I am ready to either stain and coat with a polly or just (not stains at all) and coat with polly.

Before I started to work on this project, everyone told me to hire a pro, which costs a lot of money (that I don't have) and that I would mess up the floor, but so far it looks awesome, it looked horrible before, and even after the 80 grit, it looks way better. I will post picture later of before and after so you guys can see, but I am being careful with the sanding, I move my hands to feel the wood, to make sure that it is ok. I have wood working experience, just not floors.

Don't tell me to hire a Pro, because I am the Pro here, makes no sense to hire anyone, as #1 I am broke, #2 the economy sucks, #3 homes are loosing value too quickly, so if I want a floor, I have to use existing resources and pretty much do it my self. So far I am taking my sweet time, and while the living room is not usable right now, once I finish it, I think it will look nice.

I sanded everything so far with 80-grit with the grain.

I would finish it naturally. To get a hardwood floor stained evenly, you really need to know what you are doing. Natural finish much more forgiving to sanding imperfections.

I've heard of those older houses that had hardwood installed and never finished but with carpet installed over it. Thats some excellent old growth hardwood you got there. Take your time and make it beautiful.