HELP! Something happened and I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out what went wrong. Staining a red oak floor and water popped it approximately 5 hours prior to applying stain. The entire floor wasn't stained at one time, part one evening and the rest the next day. One section of the floor that was stained the previous evening turned out a different shade than the rest of the floor. It starts at the end of the hallway and down the living room. The hallway and bedroom turned out great (which was also done that evening) as did the living room (which was done the next day), it's just this one section that is "different". I feel like the application process was consistent, stain was constantly stirred as I went. Is is possible that this section of floor wasn't fully dry when I applied the stain? It's just weird that is only that one section
Any words of wisdom? I'm guessing my only option is to sand this section and restain
https://ibb.co/Q8YXcLm

Is the narrow section the one that was stained the next day? or vice versa?
It looks like the narrow section had more of the pigment for some reason. I think you may be able to save it if you use either steel wool or imitation steel wool to polish some of the pigment off.
I was taught to prepare for the stain and stain it the same day. Leaving it overnight will allow more grain raise because of the moisture in the air.

The narrow section was stained the evening prior. The more I think about it I feel like possibly that section the floor had not fully dried from water popping (even though it felt dry) prior to applying the stain, thus the stain maybe wasn't able to penetrate the wood as well as the rest of the floor that was stained the following day.
I did start using fine steel wool on it yesterday and it definitely has made a difference (see pic)
https://ibb.co/wKTHy9Q

Gonna give it another pass with the steel wool today and hope to blend it better.