I am in the midst of finishing up a couple of night stands, have nice glued-up solid tops all ready to finish but….
I got busy the last few weeks, didn’t realize that one of them was sitting on the bench where part of it was exposed to sunlight, so I have a dark spot. Doesn’t seem to want to sand out easily – any ideas for how to clean it up? Would prefer not to have to remove much material if possible.
Thanks for any advice…
Replies
Ben:
If you are planning on just an oil finish then patience might be the best idea. The wood will darken over time and in just a few months these spots will be indistinguishable from the rest of the surface.
Hey Ben. I once built a solid Cherry sideboard that got caught in the sun as well. All of the panel parts, gables, tops, bottoms ect. were all stacked up against a wall in the shop. I didn't notice for a few days but the pieces were getting a nice sun tanning. When I unstacked the parts there were unmistakable outlines where smaller panels were stacked in front of larges panel. I mean really unmistakable. The remedy was to unstack the parts and sun tan all the parts in the direct sun for 3 to 4 days after which the outlines were nearly gone. By the time the piece was completed the marks were gone. One warning about putting your wood in the direct sunlight though. If the wood isn't completely dry it may start to move around on you. Also earlier I said direct sun. I don't mean 2:00 baking sun. I wouldn't like to see what that does to your tops. Hope this helps.
Thanks, I'll try to even out the suntan a bit for a few days and see what happens! I am planning on an oil/varnish finish, so don't want to take chances on hoping that it will even itself out over time.....
Next time I'll be more careful - it's amazing how quickly this stuff darkens!
When you expose the cherry to the sun don't forget to mask off the parts that have already darkened. I once had an installer take some similarly sun-marked cherry doors outside to try to get rid of the marks. I just assumed he'd mask off the already darkened stuff. Funny thing, the light stuff got darker, so did the already dark stuff.
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