Pictures? Depending on the grade it may be perfectly acceptable. Do you not select the flooring? Or at least see it before it was finished?

They don't "fill" knots. Select white oak has grain, but is relatively knot free, unless you have not got a great wood. Take a close up..... but at this point, I would question the quality of your flooring, not the finish.

You have a wider plank with PLENTY of movement with both short and long planks mingled into the floor. The movement (and the "shorts") indicates a wood grade that is lower than "Select". That's not a bad thing - it is a lovely floor. But these little imperfections are PART of the wood that someone decided upon.

In more obvious situations, like something the size of a quarter, a patch material can be added prior to finishing. With smaller incidents with only a few problem areas, such as yours, they can be left - or they can be filled. It all depends on what instructions you (or your partner) gave the installers.

Part of your contract will state the wood SELECTION. A high grade = higher expectations for perfection. The lower down the grade ladder the lower the expectations are for perfection. The installers, if they did NOT have instructions left with them, probably worked to the level of the wood provided.

That is to say, a HIGH GRADE of wood = low tolerance for imperfections. They would be encouraged to make the floor as perfect as possible. A lower grade of wood has a higher tolerance for imperfections and therefore the installers would feel it is "ok" to let a few imperfections show through - as is part and parcel for the wood they laid. Only if they were given strict instructions to correct these knot holes, would they make the effort to patch the small knots before the finish was applied.

Go ahead and find your paper work and let us know what grade the wood is. You can ask the holes be filled, but that is ideally done BEFORE the final coat of finish is applied. If these floors are complete, you may want to see if you can live with them.

I know this is an old post but I was told i had select grade and I have these same knots.

I am experiencing the same issue with finished hardwood and maple hardwood floors. However, my open knit holes have sharp points and some are splitters. This is a safety issue and snags fabric like socks and hoses. When selected and purchased there was no documentation or mention of the grade of the wood. Neither do the manufacturer’s samples display the defects, at any of the retailers in my area. My installer wants to filled in the holes with wood putty and put a seal over the repair. I prefer to have the planks replaced since they oversold me planks. What are the pros and cons for resolving this issue by patching versus replacing?