# Please help w/ Wood Putty DISASTER, what do I do?!?!?!? Pics incl.



## DamonBoost (Feb 14, 2009)

During the remodel of my house, my father decided it would be a good idea to basically cover these exposed Cyprus beams that we put in with "stainable" wood putty. He also let the putty sit on them for approximately 4 months as the beams were covered during the drywall. He sanded some off it off but he left quite a bit of the putty on in big chunks (pictured below)

I have tried sanding it off but am terrified and pretty confident it is going to look like crap if I try to stain them. The more I sand, it seems as if it is just impregnating the fine particles of putty into the grain of the wood. I have been using 100 and 150 sandpaper so far...

There is a slight greenish/yellowish hue (marked by the arrows on the pictures below) in an area that I have tried to sand the wood putty away, but the hue is still there =(. It is the same color as when I start sanding on another area where there was/is putty. I cant seem to get rid of it. This terrifies me of what it would look like with stain on it. 

I have read a few people mention bleach on various forums. My concern and question here is if I bleach a part of the beam wont that cause discoloration there? Wouldn't I have to bleach the whole beam to have it uniform to apply the stain to it???

What do I do to reclaim these beams. They were supposed to be a major focal point of my house and now I am so scared they are RUINED!!!! What should I do??? BTW, they cannot be replaced, they are also structural. 

I have also attached pictures of what I am afraid it will look like after being stained =(

This is a nightmare. Please help me, all help is greatly appreciated..



























































































I am afraid if I stain the beams, they will turn out horrible like the below pictures!!!


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## BHOFM (Oct 14, 2008)

It looks to me like you need some hard sanding, 80 grit. You
need to get all that stuff off. After that I am not sure the course
of action take.

Worst case, you will have to put veneer over them.

There are some sharp re finishers here that I am sure will
step in with some help!


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## bradnailer (Nov 11, 2008)

You can use Minwax's Polyshades which is a polyurethane with stain or make your own with about a 50/50 mix of poly and stain. A product like this will do a nice job blending the wood putty with the wood.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*More options*

Damon, consider an old fashioned burnished steel hand scraper. A sharp and burnished edge will remove the putty and a thin shaving of wood leaving the wood smooth and only the putty in the holes. There is a minwax stain conditioner product meant for softer woods like pine to even out the stain and reduce blotchyness..a word?...I'd hate to see you have to hold a belt sander with 60 grit overhead for a very long time, :thumbdown:but other than a good orbital sander, that may be your last resort. The Restoration forum folks may have more suggestions. BOL best of luck! Bill


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

bradnailer said:


> You can use Minwax's Polyshades which is a polyurethane with stain or make your own with about a 50/50 mix of poly and stain. A product like this will do a nice job blending the wood putty with the wood.



This is a pretty good suggestion that could work. It seems you're in between sandpaper and a hard place. I wish I could give you one solution, but there are a few things you can do. Since your specimens are in place, and you have no practice pieces, I would start with 100x, open coat silicon carbide sandpaper (light gray), also can be called "free cut".

Use a flat block and sand with the grain until it removes all the build up putty, the area is sanded to the surrounding wood, and the edges are feathered out very thin. I wouldn't go any smoother than 150x. Blow off if you have access to an air compressor, hose, and blower nozzle. If not just use a soft brush and clean off the area. Wet a rag with mineral spirits and wipe the area. You will see while it's wet, what it may look like.

When I've had drastic differential, I've mixed up shades of stain and used a very small artists brush, and feathered in some color to match the surrounding area. Applying may not be just laying on a wet swath, but depending on the type of fix, may require dabbing the brush on a rag almost dry and blushing the coloring on. Water based stains will work good as you can mix them in varying shades of concentration. Some applications work better on dry unfinished wood. 

Oil stains can also work if mixed thin. They can be worked with a brush easier than water based stains. Areas like the door casing would have to be sanded and the color blended in. What this fix boils down to is that I've spent a lot of time trying to fix that kind of problem, and it's a matter of finding the application that works out best to be the least obvious. You won't be able to make them disappear. Using a conditioner may just change the fix and the surrounding wood proportionally to what was there before. 

Worse case scenario for something like a knot (which visually jump out at you), is to cut out the knot, and a slice of wood and shape it to fall in the grain pattern and inlay it, pretty much like a boat plug you see in plywood faces, but not in a defined shape. If the inlay fix is shaped creatively, it's not that visually obtrusive.

I'm assuming that you were planning on a light finish which is difficult to get a good repair, unlike a dark one that can cover up.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

That's a tough one, and is hard to comment on with any confidence from just a few pics. If you're successful in getting most of the putty out of the wood, try using stainable glue mixed with the actual saw dust from the boards as a homebrew putty....it should match better. In addition there are color matching furniture marker sets (minwax is one brand) available that might help you fine tune the color before you put the finish coats on (maybe even after if necessary). 

The situation also might warrant contacting a finishing expert and paying for their services to get you on the right path. 

And lastly, there have been many times when I've made an error on a project and have tried to hide it, with varying degrees of success. For me, the tendency is to really over focus on the problem and make more out of it than it is. It always seems hideous at the time, but once you distance yourself a bit from the project, and walk in with a more open mind as others will see it, it's possible that you'll realize that the blemishes are barely noticeable and really does very little to detract from the overall visual impact that the architectural style, colors, and textures the space (or furniture piece) really makes. 

Good luck!


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Damon,
First off, kick back and relax for a few days, don't rush into anything until you are settled down. This is not an impossible problem, just some extensive elbow grease. If this were mine, I would break out my PC random orbital sander that is styled like a right angle grinder, not the palm type. It has a dust collector hookup on it also. I would start with 80 grit and sand both sides of the beam. I wouldn't worry about that little bit of filler stuck in the knot, or getting rid of the knot completely for that matter. After I was satisfied all the excess filler was gone, I would move up to 100, then 120, and then 150 and stop there. Once the 80 does the heavy work, you won't spend near as much time with each sucessive grit. Just try to work the beam somewhat uniformly to make sure you sand everything. You would just have to finish the inside corner by hand. Like cabman said, wipe it with thinner to see what it will look like. Not sure what kind of look you are after, but If its a medium to dark stain, I would use a preconditioner first if the stain is oil base. Leave the cracks in the wood alone. After staining and finishing, if you want to fill the cracks, use a color match putty and wipe off the excess. I don't see any problems with leaving the cracks. That's what most beams look like when they dry. And btw, throw out that filler your dad had you using. It's ok if you are painting, but you see what happens when you put it on unsealed wood. Fill your nail holes and whatever after you are all done with finishing and you won't have those big blotches.
Mike Hawkins


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## WDChew (Aug 31, 2007)

You can use a 1# cut of shellac as a sealing coat before staining. That will even up the stain.
But you still have a lot of sanding to do first.

It will be pretty wood when you finish it. Be sure to post final pics.


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