Hi, Glennsfc. Finally tried the two bona sealers :' BONA SEAL' and ' DTS', of which DTS had a slight ambering effect, The BONA SEAL though made the wood darker as well. Both beautyfull, reminiscent of an oil-job..But not the effect we are after,,, Also tried the naturale and the Traffic without sealers.. They are gorgeously tranparent... look very natural..and gave us just the' bare' effect we wanted.. Do we really need to use a sealer??, and if so : Does there exist something that we can use before applying ' Naturale' That will not have this darkening effect ? Thank you again..

Red oak is a breeze to get just about any color you want...price will depend on how your floor guy will go about achieving that color, but it shouldn't be too bad, definitely cheaper than ripping up the old and replacing with new.

just re-read what i wrote, and i think it could come across as if OP was a customer of mine, not true. i had nothing to do with this one, id like to take credit :) but im just happy they are happy with their outcome.

Yes, you can skip sealer and go straight to Traffic HD over a stained coat. You will need to redo the floors. Classicseal is not recommended over stain coats. You will have adhesion issues and peeling as the stain cures. You should be glad you did not apply the Traffic HD. You saved yourself some money and headaches. If, you want to use a sealer over stain, malke sure it is recommended for it.