Help! Cherry top partially faded mid-project.....

[Gary Trendel]

Hi -

New member looking for some help. I am building a new cherry dining table. I finished building the top about a month and a half ago, set it aside, with a few random things on top, and when I resumed work on it today it has faded on the exposed parts and left outlines where the items were left on top. I've tried sanding it down to get the color consistent, but it has only gotten blotchy... I have also tried a card scraper and taken my bench plane to it, but have not had much luck with either. How can I get a consistent color back so that I can polyurethane the top??

[Daniel Berlin]

Hi -

New member looking for some help. I am building a new cherry dining table. I finished building the top about a month and a half ago, set it aside, with a few random things on top, and when I resumed work on it today it has faded on the exposed parts and left outlines where the items were left on top. I've tried sanding it down to get the color consistent, but it has only gotten blotchy... I have also tried a card scraper and taken my bench plane to it, but have not had much luck with either. How can I get a consistent color back so that I can polyurethane the top??

If it was UV, then the easiest way is to sand it back down until you get to non-UV exposed portions all over, then topcoat it.
BUt it sounds like you tried that. What do you mean "it got blotchy".
Any chance you could take a picture?

[Gary Trendel]

Thanks Daniel. I spent about 4 hours sanding last night - I am slowly getting back to fresh wood, I just feel like I am removing A LOT of material! Over most of the sanded area, there are still lots of dark spots - they go away as I sand - I just hate taking a belt sander to the top with such aggression. My other thought is to just put it into the sun uncovered and let it even out, then topcoat?

[Prashun Patel]

Gary. I wish I had seen this before you sanded. Are you sure it faded on the exposed parts or did it darken there? Cherry will darken in the sun. I would have recommended that you just let the whole piece sit in the sun for a few days. Eventually the whole piece should develop an even tone.

[Howard Acheson]

<<<< I just feel like I am removing A LOT of material

Yes, it will take quite s bit of sanding to get down to the wood that has not been affected by the UV in sunlight. "Suntanning" the whole board is probably your best choice. Setting it out in the sun for 4-5 hours at a time for 1-5 days will generally get things evened out to a great extent. Keep rotating the wood to get an even exposure.