EXT wrote:
"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.

This is good, but why a water and/or a water/soap wash not work? The water
and/or the water/soap is going to infiltrate those fibers the very same way
that the original beer spill did.

--

-Mike-