I recently removed wall to wall carpeting in my livingroom which covered hardwood floors. The floor was in great shape except for staple marks from the staples for the padding. Is there a way to remove these black stains without replacing the wood.. can they be bleached out or sanded?. is there anything on the market that would remove the stains?

If the staple actually made a blacken mark in the wood it was likley a reaction between the wood and the metallic staple. Since it goes down into the wood sanding may be your only option but I'd give wood bleach a test spot somewher in the room. You will still have the small holes but that can be plugged with wood putty, so small they will probably not show.

Ideally, what is desired is to preserve as much of the floor as possible without sanding or damaging the wood in any way. Although, in the end, you may still have to sand.

What I would try first would be some Hydrogen Peroxide which you might find in your home already. You could apply it with cotton swabs and let it sit for awhile and see if it does the job of lightening the stains. If using it doesn't lighten the stains enough to your satisfaction, then you might want to try using Oxalic Acid which you can find at most paint or hardware stores. Please follow the directions on the container as to the application and any safety precautions in using it. There are various other kinds of bleaches that can be used, but since you are trying to remove spots in the wood that aren't already naturally a part of the wood, and if trying those two types of chemicals doesn't work, chances are that other wood bleaches that would be relatively safe to use aren't going to work either.

You can of course sand. If you do find that you need to do that, then I would recommend using no less than 150 grit abrasive paper and feather out the sanding of the spots by a few inches so that the depressions that will be left in the wood will be less noticeable. Please be sure to sand in the direction of the grain and not against the grain. The small holes from the staples can be filled with wood dough which comes in a variety of colors and can also be stained if necessary.

After sanding, then you are going to be needing to apply some type of finish to the areas. Deft lacquer is good for refinishing or spot finishing on wood. You would want to get the kind that comes in a spray can. It comes in either a gloss or semi-gloss sheen. Deft isn't something that I would use on a whole floor, because it is primarily intended for furniture and small, wooden objects. However, I am assuming that most of these marks are very close to the walls and in small areas on a floor where people are not likely to walk, I think that it would be fine to use just to give those areas some coating of protection from other things that would make the bare wood look dirty or stained in some way.

Before applying Deft, it's possible that you might have to apply a light stain to the areas for them to further blend in with the rest of the floor. There are any number of possibilities as far as what stains to use. If the stains are allowed to dry long enough, Deft will work over any of them.

For putty to fill holes, I use the sanding dust and wood glue to make a paste that matches the color of the wood exactly. Just make sure you use clean dust and not dust from the top(dirty) layer.

As for Deft, I use it religiously for doors and trim, but I don't like it on the floor as it wears poorly on the floors I've applied it to. I've never used the aerosol application, so can't say anything about it one way or the other.

Thanks,
Json