I have a specific question about staining and/or color matching new red oak to old. This inquiry is pulled out of a longer post for clarity.

Intervention Tips: Improve on Landlord's El Cheapo(!) Job?
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Here's a (darkish) photo. New replacement red oak is on the left.


Is applying stain a mistake? Initially I had eliminated this option as too complicated/difficult to pull off. But if going with a waterbase, I figure I'd rather the floor be darker in tone. I was hoping to sand (using ROS or vibrating ) over the recent filler spots & slight swirl defects, then borrow the building’s buffer and install a 100 grit screen + red backing pad (under the white pad) and give it a final once over to unify the surface roughness. The bedroom floor looks surprisingly good except for the occasional ‘cigar’ defects (these are not too deep, but they are there). I’m sure when the finish is on the defects will become more glaring. Again, this is a salvage job.

Btw, I wasn't expecting the new wood to match the old, and I am surprised by how good the repair looks (the wood is straight!...and flat! trust me, I thought they would screw that up). However, all it would have taken was a few boards with varied tones mixed in and the repair would have been visually unified.

Is there any way to easily darken the new red oak a tone or two so it blends a little better with the floor? I will be using Drifast stain, a middle tone brown or blend. I have read it is not wise to apply more than one wiped off coat of stain.


How do most apply Drifast stain, with an applicator pad or rag?

Thanks.

Yes, always achieve desired colour with one coat of stain.
Use a neutral oil to lighten the stain somewhat for the older darker wood. BTW, I believe the new wood is a select and better grade, giving it less colour variation than the older existing wood which is most likely a #1 common grade.
Apply the stain with a rag, remove excess with more rags. Dispose of these safely after saturating them with water to prevent spontaneous combustion.

Thanks for all the ideas.

I stained the floor yesterday with Bona Drifast Medium Brown. It probably would have been better to do with a blend of Natural + Medium Brown to dilute the stain for the older wood, but the stain job looks pretty good. I first popped the grain with a wet rag and let dry 24 hrs. I used a painters pad to apply stain and wiped with rags. It has been drying about 17 hrs so far with open windows and a fan in NYC.

The only issues are the 'cigar' marks and some swirl/sanding ,arks by the guy who didn't know how to run his sanding machinery. Yes they are a bummer but it's the given I had to deal with. At this stage the floor looks much better than with the old finish.

I am thinking of using Traffic in Satin as I think it will make the defects less pronounced.

I'll likely do three coats of Traffic. One coat, let dry about 2-4 hours, then another coat. Then I'd like to do a quick scuff sanding to knock down any roughness from the raised grain/finish defects, vac/tac cloth, then apply the final topcoat. How long do I need to wait before sanding after Traffic coat #2?

The problem was old floor was white oak new floor was red. Hope it turned out ok.