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Dark spots after sanding table

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Andrew Gibson

8/1/2025 7:10 PM

This isn’t my table, but I’m trying to help a friend. This table was sanded and they are wanting to refinish it lighter to show the wood and grain more, but these dark spots around the edge are not helping. I’m not sure if there is a way to get rid of this outside of sanding and trying to keep the table flat still. However many members have a lot more experience than I do.

Any thoughts or idea? My initial thought was stain it darker or lean into it as character.

Dan Bruno

8/1/2025 7:20 PM

It appears the table is veneered with a solid wood edging. It looks to me Ike the veneer is partially sanded through. Dark stain may help, but I’m not sure.

Best regards,

Dan Bruno
Vice President of Charitable Operations
Central Indiana Woodworkers

Andrew Gibson

8/1/2025 7:28 PM

Thanks Dan, that may be the case. The person told me it was solid wood, but I’m not certain they would know for sure (and from the pictures I couldn’t tell). Really that especially makes sense with the how the table top is oriented.

Andrew

On Fri, Aug 1, 2025 at 7:20 PM Dan Bruno (Dan.d.bruno@gmail.com) <AskaMember@ciww.org> wrote:

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It appears the table is veneered with a solid wood edging. It looks to me Ike the veneer is partially sanded through. Dark stain may help, but I’m not sure.

Best regards,

Dan Bruno
Vice President of Charitable Operations
Central Indiana Woodworkers

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Mathew Day

8/1/2025 7:50 PM

I agree with Dan, that’s pretty clearly a veneered table. Not sure where you’re at in the sanding process - 80 grit or 220 grit? Either way, tread lightly. Those might have to be character spots.

Andrew Gibson

8/1/2025 8:00 PM

Thanks Mathew, I’ll pass that on to the person.

Michael Brady

8/2/2025 11:10 AM

The best fix might be to reapply a new veneer, if the value of the table warrants the effort.

Ken Green

8/3/2025 4:57 PM

You may consider the following:

oxalic acid does do a good job restoring the color of the wood after the use of sodium or potassium hydroxide as well as removing metallic tannate discolorations, over the years it gained a reputation as being a “cure-all” for other types of wood discolorations as well.

I personally have not used it, but seen a few YouTube videos where it seems to work with the problem as the table in mention.

Ken

Sent from my iPhone

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