"Anonymous" wrote in
message roups.com...
Red oak boards being used as shelves. Was too wet and cold to sand, stain
and poly them so my husband put them up unfinished. Well he spilled his
beer on one. Will sanding be enough or will the spot rear its ugly head
when I get to stain and poly it in the spring?
Red oak - probably the worst wood you could spill any liquid onto. It has
tiny pores that run a long way through the wood along the grain, these pores
are hollow and will draw the liquid into the wood. Any hand sanding will
never remove the residue and sugars from the spilled beer as they will be
too deep in the pores. Power planing may remove enough surface wood to
expose unbeered wood. Either replace the shelf or treat the entire board or
project to a wash in beer to make it finish evenly. Next time don't use any
wood in its unfinished state if you want to eventually finish it.