Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - hardwood stains

I recently purchase my new home and the previous owner had placed carpet on the original hardwood floors. After removing the carpet and carpets tack strip I notice that in several area where the nails were removed the floor was stained black, which appear to be water damage. I planning to wax the floors and lay down throw rugs. I thought that I would lay down maskin tape parallel to the wall and sand the black stains the best I could. Then I would wax these areas. I using tape so that I would'nt impact that which is ok. Do you have any comments or suggestions Marc

I don't think the masking tape will withstand the sanding required for this. And you'll have a hard time matching the surrounding area. It'll still stand out.

Since these are along the wall, you can just try to hide them w/furniture. Maybe even try some narrow moulding.

Stains from rusted nails tend to be impossible to remove, even with sanding. The suggestion to ignore the stains is your best option. Overwetting of carpet along the baseboards when cleaning more than likely is the cause of the rusted nails in the tack strip.