Advice on Parota slab with horizontal lines that won't come out.

[Angel City Woodshop]

This is a beautiful Parota slab coffee table top I've been working on for a client. I haven't run into this problem before. There are three areas where horizontal lines are seen in the sap wood running horizontally across the face. I had this slab planed down and I also sanded these areas heavily, to the point I wasn't comfortable going any further for fear of mis-shaping the top. 

My guess is these are remnants of the sticks used to stack the slab when it was drying. I don't want to keep removing more material from the top - want to retain thickness of slab. The coloration also matches perfectly the colors in the slab itself - it's not "dis-colored" in that way.

Anyone else seen this before? Insight? Solutions? Is this a normal thing?

Link to slab pics on imgr: https://imgur.com/a/KGifQ

[Guest]

sticker stain is somewhat normal.  I'd try wood bleach a/k/a oxalic acid.  Be sure to thoroughly mask of the heart wood because you don't want to bleach it (I don't see any sticker stain on the heart wood, but maybe it looks different in person).    Another option would be to dye just the sapwood a shade or two darker.   Of course a third option is to leave it there, personally I don't find it that distracting, especially on a piece that incorporate sapwood.  

 

[Eric.]

Yeah it's sticker stain.  Certain species react with other species when stickered, so it's always wise to sticker with the same species you're stacking.

As far as solutions, I guess go with Mike's, although I'm not that big on "bleaching" wood or using any other chemicals for that matter.  I'd probably just sell it as "character" even though it's clearly a defect, or just pretend it's not there.

A friend of mine had a couple walnut slabs with sticker stain just like that...he removed more than 1/8" material before he said screw it and gave up.

[Angel City Woodshop]

5 minutes ago, Mike. said:

sticker stain is somewhat normal.  I'd try wood bleach a/k/a oxalic acid.  Be sure to thoroughly mask of the heart wood because you don't want to bleach it (I don't see any sticker stain on the heart wood, but maybe it looks different in person).    Another option would be to dye just the sapwood a shade or two darker.   Of course a third option is to leave it there, personally I don't find it that distracting, especially on a piece that incorporate sapwood.  

 

Thanks Mike. I showed a picture to my client and they didn't mind it - the perfectionist in me is just a bit bothered by it. I've already finished the slab with a polyacrilic, but I'm willing to redo the top of need-be. We don't want it any darker.

Do you think oxalic acid will be effective and produce a natural looking finish? 

 

Thanks.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Angel City Woodshop said:

Thanks Mike. I showed a picture to my client and they didn't mind it - the perfectionist in me is just a bit bothered by it. I've already finished the slab with a polyacrilic, but I'm willing to redo the top of need-be. We don't want it any darker.

Do you think oxalic acid will be effective and produce a natural looking finish? 

 

Thanks.

I have used it to remove staining from metal in white oak.  It did not change the color of the oak but did remove the bluish staining.  

If you have already finished I would leave it alone.  The sap might darken on its own anyhow, so  in a few years the stain might not be visible. 

[Angel City Woodshop]

4 minutes ago, Eric. said:

Yeah it's sticker stain.  Certain species react with other species when stickered, so it's always wise to sticker with the same species you're stacking.

As far as solutions, I guess go with Mike's, although I'm not that big on "bleaching" wood or using any other chemicals for that matter.  I'd probably just sell it as "character" even though it's clearly a defect, or just pretend it's not there.

A friend of mine had a couple walnut slabs with sticker stain just like that...he removed more than 1/8" material before he said screw it and gave up.

Thanks Eric, yeah I'm leaning toward just leaving it now. So annoying to have such a thing affect the end result for a project. It is t too bad, just wish it wasn't there/ it's crazy how deep the coloration penetrates the slab.

[wdwerker]

I vote leave it alone as well. However in the future or if you have an off cut piece with the sticker stain try masking off the sapwood on the underside and test the Oxalic acid there. You may need to bleach the sticker stain areas  and then bleach all the sapwood until the overall appearance is even enough.

[AceHoleInOne]

Yep I'm with Steve on this. You have to bleach the entire sap area to ensure even color while being careful to stay off the heart. Which is extremely hard to do. The bleach will take up under any tape used to tape off the heart.   I would shade the sap a little darker to blend the sticker stain making it less noticeable. Very easy to do. 

 

-Ace-

[Gixxerjoe04]

Yea I'd say to leave it, would have to try to fix it only to make it look worse, gorgeous slab of wood that's for sure.

[bob493]

You could also go the opposite route and stain the sapwood sections darker to make everything match more.

I would lose my mind with those sides personally speaking. It looks "dirty" like maple gets sometimes.