Problem you describe is not normal. Of course, I cannot inspect your floor, but from your description, my guess is that the problem you bare having with this floor is related to the grain raise. Was a sealer applied before the waterborne polyurethane? After the first coat of finishing material was dry, was the grain raise cut? Fine grained wood flooring will show more denting than figured wood.

I agree with paintguy. Acrylics increase their adhesion with time. What scraps off after 2 hours may well be adhered after 2 days. As to Behr paints, I have personally made test samples of Behr Ultra, Marquee and WB Alkyd over sections of hard, slick, high gloss oil paint. I hand these to customers and defy them to scratch it off with their fingernails. They are wearing thin with literally hundreds of tries, but they are still intact! Wanting to see the worst case scenario, I did not sand or de-gloss the oil paint. I am an old school painter, raised on oil pains and somewhat of a doubting Thomas. I have become a believer. If someone's paint is "balling up", I would wonder what is on that surface? Was it cleaned of oils from hands or other pollutants?

Not looking too good :( Seems there are numerous issues. Talked to Waterlox and they said that over white, they would expect the waterlox to leave an amber look. So my 1st test will be to let the water based white wash stain to fully cure and then coat with waterlox (I like the look of the white so far, it just hasn't been treated with the waterlox. option 2: Oil based stain... so far I have not found any in a white. Lowes carries Cabot and they called them for me and Cabot said they could do it, but it would have a yellow tint! And then top that with the Amber of the waterlox! So that does not sound good. Option 3: white dye... have not found yet. Option 4: maybe find a sealant other than waterlox that I can put over the waterbased white wash? at Woodcraft they recommended General Finish Endura waterbase urethane, but the can said it can leave a yellow tint! Casey...looks like you are right on with the yellowing problem, no matter what I do!! I did see in the CAbot brochure they had a semi transparent blue stain with a washed look.. would this be a similar problem with the yellowing? And then on top of it all , the Woodcraft store was surprised I was using Waterlox at all. They said I should be using "Salad bowl" finish and that it was food safe. I do not plan to chop on it so I think I am ok with waterlox.... just more research needed I guess! If the white can not be done, I will just be waterloxing (or other)!

You should not have to worry about using an oil based paint to on a radiator. Many years ago when I lived in house with steam radiators, we painted the radiators with a an oil based silver paint. I remember the first day of heat there would be an odor of paint which dissipated by the next day. I also have used latex paint on steam radiators. But that was also a long time ago so I am not sure how well today's paints will hold up. There is always a concern about peeling when switching types of paint. Go to a paint store and ask for advice on which products to use.