Sanded through plywood veneer

[jussi]

Got a little too aggressive with the ros and accidentally sanded through a small ( 1/2" or so) portion of some walnut ply. I was thinking of using some sort of stain to mask it. Any suggestions. It's lighter shade walnut. Finish will be Arm-R-Seal

[John Mihich]

I see 2 options.

1. Lay another layer of veneer over the existing. Might not be an option based on where the problem is located.

2. Do exactly what you are thinking on doing. Take a test piece and sand through a bit like you did then play with stains or dyes. It is important to put finish over it also. This is what I would do; and have done. The oversanded area my take the finish different so watch for that also.

3. Worse case - remove the board and replace it.

[jussi]

Have you used stain with walnut? If so, what kind?

[John Mihich]

Stay away from Min-wax for this - not enough color particles IMO. I like Olympic. In this I would use a brush on the sanded through area with walnut. Then after that dries try the whole area. It's really a trial and error.

Just to save money buy the little pints or half pints; can't remember which it is.

If this is right in front of the piece then it's going to be tough. On the side - pretty good chance to doing it well enough to not be readily apparent.

[Herebrooks]

My suggestion is to seal it before doing a stain touchup. Then, at least you can see the color you're trying to match. I would use sanding sealer or shellac.
Good luck, Bill

[jteneyck]

I would route out the damaged area and glue in a patch of veneer. If you're not up for that, I would color the area you sanded through with Transtint dye applied with any artist's brush. Do it on scrap until you get the color right.

John

[Steve N]

I'm with John's thought about routing or using a router plane (actually easier to maintain depth with provided your plane is wider than the defect) and then patching in a matching veneer. I have done the same, and tried to "color" it in, and I had no luck with that, if you are successful doing that report back how you made the magic happen. If you go the way of the patch, do a practice run. I find putting in a square or rectangle is easier, but an oval or football shape is much harder to detect once done, no straight lines, or hard corners. Make initial cuts with a VERY sharp knife to define the depth, and the edges, then go to town routing out the remainder.

[fredhargis]

I've had better luck using a piece of the same plywood to make a donor patch of the veneer and cover the damaged area, inlay style. If you're careful with the grain selection and try to get it as close as you can, it's not to hard to do.

[tomsteve]

another option is to drill and plug. ive had pretty good results- as in hiding the repair- by making a hanful of plugs from a piece of scrap(solid, not ply scraps) then going through them finding a good grain match.