How can I repair oversanded wood that has already been stained?
by Michelle N.
+3
I recently decided to stain and poly a door that had been hanging unstained in my home for several years. The door had several deep dog scratches on it & in my process of trying to sand out the scratches, I over sanded & left dips in the wood as well as scratch marks from the sand paper. These flaws became more noticeable after I applied stain. Is there a way to fix this?
Suggested Project Book
What you need to do is sand with progressive finer sandpaper. Starting with 100 grit sandpaper to remove the bulk of imperfections. Then go to 150 grit sandpaper to start smoothing the surface. Then end with 200 grit sandpaper to get a smooth finish.
Not really and keep the grain showing thru. You may want to patch and paint at this point.
Our painter actually uses automotive Bondo when wood surfaces are gouged or scratched really deep. Sand, prime with Kilz, and paint.
Thank you everyone for the advice. I did try to use Plastic Wood to fill a few of the rougher areas, but now I think I need to stain those areas again. I will post some pictures tomorrow. Struggling a bit with this project at the moment!
At this point I am just settling for having this door completed and hanging in my room with all of the flaws. I'm telling myself it hung unstained for about 6 years & all of the flaws didn't bother me along the way! 😂
Anyway, you can see the deep scratches that I tried to sand out, but in doing so sanded against the grain & left all kinds of marks. Also, in the pic is the area that dips/is not level due to over sanding. This is how the door currently looks with two coats of stain & one coat of poly.
One more pic where I tried to use the plastic wood filler. Definitely a work in progress!