TIL my new orbital sander can burn through veneer in under 3 seconds if you don't keep it moving.

I was finishing a maple plywood panel for a built-in and paused for a second to check the edge, and now there's a perfect, cloudy circle I have to patch, so has anyone found a good method for fixing a small, localized sand-through like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliotadams5d ago

Ugh, been there. What grit were you using? That's a huge factor. For a patch that small, I'd carefully scrape the burn spot with a razor to clean up any fuzz, then build up the spot with a matching gel stain using a tiny brush, like a detail brush. Let it dry completely and hit it with a light coat of your finish. You'll probably need to blend it with a very light hand-sanding around the edges after. It's a pain but it can disappear.

jake_owens4d ago

Yeah, the razor trick is smart. Do you find gel stain works better than a regular stain pen for something that small?

kim.xena4d ago

Gel stain is way better for control on a tiny spot, it won't bleed like a pen. @elliotadams has the right idea with the detail brush for building it up. That careful layering makes the repair actually disappear.