Rubbed through table top finish

[Jeffrey Cole]

While rubbing out my Waterlox finish on my table top I rubbed through in 2 places. What is the best way to correct this?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!
Jeffrey

[Scott Holmes]

A picture is worth a thousand words... It really depends on what we are dealing with as to how to fix it.

Usually not an easy fix...

[Jeffrey Cole]

Scott, this is the first time I have added photos, hope it works.
Jeffrey


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[Don Kondra]

While rubbing out my Waterlox finish on my table top I rubbed through in 2 places. What is the best way to correct this?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!
Jeffrey

Uh, scuff sand the whole top and recoat :)

Cheers, Don

[Scott Holmes]

Did you color the wood with dye, oil or stain? If not see how it looks when you wet it with mineral spirits. If it blends in you may be able to scuff sand and recoat. If not you will need to add a bit of color to make it the same as the rest of the surrounding area... A touchy coloring job.

If you don't get the color to match the surrounding area; you will not get it to disappear... it will always be a bit lighter because it has less varnish thickness, thus less color.

[Jeffrey Cole]

Thank you both for all your help!! No dye, oil or stain. I did wet it with mineral spirits earlier and all looks good. I will lightly scuff sand with 400 and recoat. Also I will redo wood preparation before recoat.
Scott, I also thank you for all your advise on using Waterlox for this project. The table looks wonderful minus the rubber through area.
Thanks,
Jeffrey

[Prashun Patel]

Pretty wood!
I'll offer this: I think your ratio of rubbing effort to film thickness is too high.

I'm partial to thin films myself, which are prone to witness lines, but rarely have I rubbed through to the bare wood and affected the color so much. What did you rub this with?

Also, know that Waterlox OSF is famous (to me) for settling into the pores and reducing the sheen all by itself over time. It takes a lot of effort to build a flat, level, mirror finish relative to other higher concentrate varnishes because of this.

For these reasons, once you've fixed the color and rebuilt the film, I'd suggest if the film is pretty thin, use only a crumpled paperbag to denib the surface and let the sheen tone down by itself over subsequent weeks.

If you truly want a mirror finish, then you might do better to switch to the full strength waterlox varnishes, brush them on (several coats), then rub out. I'd choose a less aggressive method of rubbing (it truly is a rubbing touch- not a sanding touch).

[Jeffrey Cole]

Prashum,
I started with 400 Gt paper and then foam pads 500, 1000, 2000 grit. The table top is flat and smooth now. The color change went away after I scuff sanded and put another coat of Waterlox on. I will put a few more coats on and it should be fine. The world of finishing is all very new to me. I will learn as I go and with help from all of you.
Thank you for your help and insight.
Jeffrey