Wood accepting stain differently in lines

[Nix flooring]

Hi guys, I’ve been installing and sanding flooring for 12 years now. 5 of which has been through my own company. Every once and while I come across streaking and lines where the stain does not take the same.

Here is the sanding process I use
- 60 grit Big machine and edge to remove old stain and level
- puddy whole floor to fill cracks and seams
- 80 grit big machine and edge off puddy
- scrape and sand corners
- 100 grit buff entire floor with 6 disc sander.
- apply stain with buffer using a slice of carpet.

To me it looks as if it could be lines from the 6 disc sander and some look as start lines from the big machine. The floor is very level tho. Any suggestions and help is greatly appreciated!

 

[DarisMulkin]

I not a sand and finish person but like to build a stain furniture. Looking at the lines looks like it goe across more than one board not the length of the board. I'd say just guessing those are areas that got missed when sanding with the finer grit leaving the board just a bit rougher and accepting the stain more. Just guessing here.

 

[Floorist]

In the 2nd picture from the bottom, it looks like the floor has a groove in it.

 

[highup]

I'm not a wood guy either, but I've never heard of a six disk sander. Got any images of it?

 

[Nix flooring]

I'm not a wood guy either, but I've never heard of a six disk sander. Got any images of it?

https://americansanders.com/2017/02/hydrasand-multi-head-sanding-disc/
Pretty much the same thing but I have 6 discs instead of 5.

 

[Nix flooring]

https://americansanders.com/2017/02/hydrasand-multi-head-sanding-disc/
Pretty much the same thing but I have 6 discs instead of 5.

This is actually the exact one I have.
https://www.tools4flooring.com/amer...MIvPvctPah7AIVvP7jBx0rsw1aEAQYASABEgKtN_D_BwE

 

[highup]

I've never seen anything like that.
I was asking because I wanted to envision how a sander could cause the issue that you have.
Is that from a left to right motion causing an overlap?
Supposing you move the sander/buffer to the right, then move it back a foot and do a return pass going left.
Where those two passes overlap, the sanding direction would be reversed...... Clockwise motion overlapping counterclockwise motion.

 

[C.J.]

That’s called the halo effect. Your big machine sands the wood differently than the edger and it shows itself easier with a darker floor. Heck everything shows itself with a darker floor, right. That’s why you screen the floor after sanding to help blend the difference between the edger and the big machine. In your case you have used the hydra sand in place of a hard plate and a screen. Wouldn’t have been an issue if you used a lower grit on the hydra sand and worked up to the 100 grit. The hydra sand is slicker than snot but it’s not necessarily that aggressive as the dark stain has shown you.

Start off with your big machine and edger working through the grits like you did up to 80 grit then switch to the hydra sand and drop back down to 60 grit then 80 then 100. I use a palm sander with the same grit as the hydra sand to get the inch or so up to the wall that your buffer may not reach depending on your buffer.

It may seem like a lot more work but not really, I mean how hard is changing 6 discs and holding a buffer. Yeah, it adds time but so does a resand.