# Sanding marks after staining



## Wojoman83 (Nov 24, 2014)

I am new to woodworking and I am making dining table. I've been searching for answers to my issue and this forum seemed appropriate. A little background; The top is made from oak. On one of the boards I had made my pencil marks where I wanted my pocket holes but later found a knot so I decided to use the other side. So when it came time to sand the top after all the planks had been assembled i spent a little more time sanding away the pencil marks. I used a 220 grit w an orbital sander. Well tonight after staining I noticed the area i sanded took the stain lighter. I put another coat of stain on the affected area shortly after the first coat so I dont think it helped. How can I fix this issue?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I think the spots that didn't take the stain are glue stains where the glue has sealed the wood. It just wasn't sanded with coarse enough sandpaper when you started sanding it. The only way to fix the top is to strip the finish off and start over sanding it. If you have a belt sander that would be a good way to remove the glue stain.


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## Wojoman83 (Nov 24, 2014)

Steve Neul said:


> I think the spots that didn't take the stain are glue stains where the glue has sealed the wood. It just wasn't sanded with coarse enough sandpaper when you started sanding it. The only way to fix the top is to strip the finish off and start over sanding it. If you have a belt sander that would be a good way to remove the glue stain.


Thanks for the reply. I didn't use any glue when connecting the boards just pocket holes. Is there glue used in another process? Can I sand that spot now and restain just that board?

Thanks


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

The reason I think it is a glue stain is it's on both sides of the joint. I don't know what else it could be. Anyway you won't be able to sand just that board, for that to have a happy ending the entire top will have to be sanded to a uniform appearance. Even if you get those spots sanded, the color won't blend in otherwise. A table top shows everything so it's important to get the entire surface consistent.


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

I think what's happened is you sanded more with a finer paper than you did the rest of the table, when you did that, you effectively closed off the grain to absorb stain uniformly. With oak, I never sand past 180, and it has to be uniform sanding. I've experienced the exact same thing as you in the past. The best solution is to re sand the table, starting with 120 and finishing with 180...then re-stain.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

The third board from the left has a light spot in places that look to be about the same distance apart. As if they were high spots and got milled higher so they were sanded more than the rest. I'm with Ryan on the reason they are lighter. But I use a cabinet scraper and then start sanding with 150 or 180. 

I'm not sure why the top didn't get glued on the joints. This may move in the future. 

Al


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

You only make that mistake once....I once grabbed a 320 grit sanding pad to knock a mark of before staining....that spot took zero stain and I ended up resanding the whole stinking table.


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## RandyReed (Jul 30, 2014)

Wojoman83 said:


> So when it came time to sand the top after all the planks had been assembled i spent a little more time sanding away the pencil marks. I used a 220 grit w an orbital sander. Well tonight after staining I noticed the area i sanded took the stain lighter.


The reason being is because where you took the extra time sanding the pencil marks off, it made those areas more smooth and it took the stain different. The smoother areas will be lighter. Before taking the finish off, you can try to feather those lighter areas in with the same stain using a small brush. Just take your time doing this. 

Then if you dont like the outcome of trying to feather the lighter spots in, you can then strip off the entire finish, re-sand, then start over remembering to sand the entire top with the same grit and also not concentrating on 1 spot for too long. If you do this, sand the entire top with 150-180 grit before appying your stain.


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## Wojoman83 (Nov 24, 2014)

RandyReed said:


> The reason being is because where you took the extra time sanding the pencil marks off, it made those areas more smooth and it took the stain different. The smoother areas will be lighter. Before taking the finish off, you can try to feather those lighter areas in with the same stain using a small brush. Just take your time doing this.
> 
> Then if you dont like the outcome of trying to feather the lighter spots in, you can then strip off the entire finish, re-sand, then start over remembering to sand the entire top with the same grit and also not concentrating on 1 spot for too long. If you do this, sand the entire top with 150-180 grit before appying your stain.


thanks for all the help everyone. im learning a lot and this (now) seems like it should of been common sense. owell, live and learn. ill see how it comes out after trying to do the feathering technique first, If that doesn't work looks like ill be sanding....again.


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