I have some engineered hardwood where I’m trying to re-stain some areas that were worn down by walking and moisture over ten years. I sanded carefully only the areas that were worn, and applied a stain, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then wiped off. Some of the stain got in, but some areas just won’t take the stain, or they get only a little darker. I suspect i have to just sand deeper to get to fresh wood but I’m wary of putting too deep of a groove.

Some of the light areas that I’m trying to darken are only a line about an inch long and 1/32” wide. So I go at it with my finger behind a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper over just that one spot, trying not to sand off the good areas beside it, then I vacuum and apply stain again. But then the stain still only darkens it just a little.

I know the floor is stainable because I took a spare piece and beltsanded it clean, then applied my stain and it went on great.

Now in the house I’m trying to replicate the success but it’s not working.

I suspect I’m not going deep enough in sanding. I’m been using a random orbital sander on just one board for several minutes (40 grit) and it feels like hardly any material is coming off, and the wood feels glass smooth still. (This is the area in the photo).

Maybe i just need to use the beltsander and go even deeper? Or rent a proper floor sander. Was hoping to keep this just a quick job on a few small areas… oof 😓

Help,Upholstery Cleaning fluid spilled on a wood veneer table, I've tried sanding, white spirits etc but it's not coming off and I don't want to go through the veneer finish. What can I do?

Hi all, I ordered Osmo Polyx oil on Amazon. It came scotch-taped all over the top and when I took down the tape the lid seemed not fully closed (see the attached picture). This feels weird to me, as if they opened the oil and maybe mixed something else (cheaper?) into it and then closed again. Is there a way to know if the oil I have is good? It wasn't cheap, but I don't want to oil my table with something that is not original oil for oiling, as food will probably drop to the table and we will eat it.

So I don’t know what I was thinking, but I put citrustrip on our painted brick fireplace to get the paint off. Well it ended up drying on there and being almost impossible to remove. So I decided to give up and just paint over it. And now there’s a smell coming off the fireplace. Did I completely screw everything up? Or will the smell eventually go away?

I built my girlfriend a wooden footrest for her apartment patio out of 2x4’s, 1/2” plywood and some stuffing for the top. What should I use to finish/treat the wood for outdoor use? TIA

Hi all. I am refinishing an old wooden table and the process is going well but I am overwhelmed with information on how to apply polyurethane. I see many takes online about applying with a brush, rag, or foam brush. What is the best route for someone new to this? I finished the first leaf and used a natural bristle brush for the first two coats but I was unable to get the poly cleaned off the brush (likely from letting it sit too long) so switched to a foam brush at the end. I liked using the regular brush better but don't want to waste nice brushes. If a regular brush is the right method, how do you clean the poly and have it ready for the next application 24 hours later?

Thanks!

Table clear cracking, how do I get this out? Cracks are dark. Thank you in advance for your help and guidance

I’m using retique it for the first time and I’m having a very hard time applying the stain. It seems to be just such a mess. My cabinets are looking horrible. Please see the photo.

Hi! I am trying to build a unit like this and I was wondering if you have any recommendations on how I can do the tilted shelving with the magazine? I have the brackets from ikea called pershult, but I dont know how I can attach the wood to the bracket.

I had oak wood floors restored. They used one coat of oil based stain and two coats of water based polyurethane finish. How long do I need to be concerned about off gassing since I have small children?

I’m planning to “re-finish” this door and trim and could use any tips/insights y’all may have. Customer doesn’t like the clear finish, so we decided on a carbon gray over the oak as a change.

My plan was to use tinted ML Campbell Krystal as this is the product I have most experience with, but have never tinted before.

It appears the original finish is a conversion varnish, so I hope/imagine that scuffing would be enough instead of removing the entire original finish? I’m sure it’s not just an oil finish, but could I treat poly the same as a conversion varnish as far as scuffing only? Any recommendations for other finishes that are UV resistant for outdoors?

Thanks in advance, legends!

EDIT - thanks for the suggestions everyone - I have disassembled the dryer and removed the desiccant for now (leaving the water trap) until I can through it all and check the filters. This very well might be what was the problem and I'm feeling silly that none of us or any of the experts we deal with even considered it.

Hi - we're at a loss here and I was hoping someone might have an idea to help us.

We're a small woodshop with a full finishing booth using a pressure pot with dedicated compressor air line, we alternate with the pressure pot and gravity feed spray guns. Our finishing is sporadic high volume - stain, seal, top coat.

When we occasionally change a fitting on the air lines we get a large number of small beads of something that spill out of the fitting...they look almost like irregular (mostly round in shape) beads of plastic but we can't figure out where they come from or what they are. All the local suppliers we use are pretty stumped by it as well.

I'm wondering if somehow we are getting lacquer/top coat backwashing up the air lines when we disconnect them and it's drying in the line and getting spun into these beads by the air flow - but again, not sure how that could happen.

Has anyone here ever heard of such a thing? Any ideas?

https://preview.redd.it/bmnj49rw8fpd1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=71641d8c14729dbed1a52c17375f0a7d56404fe3

Hi all! I just finished building a side table made out of untreated merbau wood, and I'm wondering what kind of oil/varnish I should use to finish it. I know that merbau is particularly oily, so it can be tricky to work with. Table is for indoor use.

Total rookie to finishing and would appreciate any suggestions! I'm considering teak and Danish oils ATM but pretty lost otherwise.

Can anyone help me determine what the original finish is on this teak cabinet? I tried to repair a deep scratch in the section with the blue tape, but cannot get the color to come close to the sections around it. I’ve tried clear satin poly then stripped it off, and also tried natural danish oil. It’s currently bare, but a little damp from the recent stripping. it seems that the veneer soaked up both which gave it a darker hue. I’ve read that these pieces might be lacquered and that lacquer doesn’t soak as deeply into the wood.

https://imgur.com/a/MFaTCMB

I’m staining a pine table. Need suggestions on how to finish to prevent rings and food stains. Something nearly black like charcoal gray maybe?

Just finished my first lacquer application. It’s semi gloss, a couple cans thick. Finish is rough to the touch. Ive heard you have to rub it out. I’ve seen you can wet sand up to as many grit as you want, steel wool rub out, and then wax on wax off with a finish wax.

What do most of you do with your clear lacquer fishes? Is this the right process?

We recently had to have our stairs rebuilt, as the old ones were falling apart. The crew finished a few days ago and is telling me that this big of a color difference is normal. They are telling me that different woods absorb stain differently. This is an old house (late 1800s). The dark wood you see around the window and at the top of the stairs is original to the house. It is also in almost every room of the house.

The crew had people at the home office stain the treads which i feel look great and are faily close in color to the original wood.

The (to me) far lighter colored wood is what the on site crew installed/stained. Am I crazy or should i demand a restain?