I know this is an old thread but I felt the need to reply. We used Bona Traffic 5 years ago using spice brown stain followed by the Satin poly HD 2 part system. I remember back then it stated the darker color allow 12 hour dry time which we did. Then we applied two coats of finish. I recall that it took longer then 2 weeks to fully set and get solid but eventually it did and worked out great. Fast forward we got a new house. Great wood floors. Again we refinished them using the Bona HD traffic 2 part system in semi gloss. We used a lighter finish this time which stated on the stain can stated to allow 2-3 hours drying time in normal humidity. So this time around we followed the instructions and allowed 3 hours for the stain to dry on a lovely 75 degree sunny day. I did not go heavy on the stain and I would use a dry cloth to buff out the excess as I went along. Everything looked great. We have experience with the sanding so we spent roughly 10 hours using the different grits down to the 100 grit as the final step as instructed. Floors were lovely and down to the bare unadultured wood. We then vacuumed them and got every last bit of dust off using special footies as to not contaminate the floor with our feet. We could not have followed the instructions more perfectly. In fact we researched for a week and spoke to a floor refinishing company just to insure we did things 100% correctly. Well here we are now, 12 days in and I can scratch this off with my nail in many places. I am not talking just a scratch in the wood, but a peeling of the top coat scraping down to and exposing bare wood. I am sick to my stomach. The floor will not last. It is supposed to be strong like for a gym. This would not hold up to a room of infants. We luckily were finishing in a vacant home so nothing was placed on the floor for 10 days. It's not even worth moving all of our heavy furniture and starting over so I am going to put laminate floors over top of this and be done with it. I called Bona and they told me that they suggest 8 hour stain drying time. Well then why the heck would you state on your product 2-3 hours? Human error on my part? I think not I did everything that Bona said. Disgusted with the product. I should have used a cheaper oil base from the big box store. Biggest regret of my life. Perhaps Bona stored the product in a cold warehouse? Maybe it was a faulty batch with bad hardener? I have no idea but it behaves like something that did not have hardener. However I checked the unused bottle the next day and it was solidifying in the jug. Something failed and I can't understand what because I followed Bona instructions to a T.

It is normal. The small exposure of the end of the planks when it was stained DARK (how many years ago?) is to blame. There isn't much to be done. Every time you do a full sand (3 grit levels) you remove 20 years of life off of your wood. If you try to get rid of this tick of colour (which 99.99999% of people will NOT notice...even if you point it out to them) you can and WILL reduce the life of your wood. This is one of those 'meh' moments. The decision to go DARK some 15-20 years ago set up this situation. Let it be. There are worse things out there then a hint of left-over stain colour in a wood floor....like a roof that needs repair...or hurricanes...tornados...ground water contamination, etc. In 6 weeks you won't even remember what it was that made you nervous.

Carly, please provide source for your floors, exactly what I’m looking for. Also thank you for post and thank you too other posters. I had just had floors done by a floor shop, two years of hospice requires me to redo them, seems a layer can be scraped up with a spackle scraper easily and turned dark ( like cherry wood does in sunlight but this was white oak ). So due to budget going to have to give this a go on my own. These posts priceless. After seeing this post and refinishing parents floor, I want your oak in my house … you did fantastic job.

Yes, we got group 1 white oak and the example looks like quarter sawn. Anyways, the floors are beautiful after the bona Traffic and we are very happy . I was so nervous but now we get compliments on the floor by everyone who see them. Picture doesn't really do justice here