Seeking advice on residual stain during refinishing

[Von]

I'm refinishing a maple coffee table I made 15 years ago. I've gotten the old water-based poly off using some stripper/scrapping/sanding, but I apparently put some stain on just the top side of the top which is causing me problems. Most of the stain sanded off without too much ado, but it is resisting my efforts in a few places, such as where it soaked into the end grain:

And then in other places, such as along the right edge in the following photo where its fairly blotchy:

Any advice as to how to proceed is appreciated.

Seems like I could...

 1) Keep sanding. I worry this would mean removing more material than I want, especially where the end grain soaked up the stain.

 2) Hope someone knows of some magical bleach or other chemical that could help me?

 3) Stain the wood again in such a way as to blend into the residual stain. I suspect I stained it 15 years ago to make it a little warmer and I'm not opposed to repeating this. Anyone had luck (good or bad) doing this?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

[Dave H]

I'm guessing you don't want to put a different stain on? If you were I would go with a darker stain and see what happens on the under side, sanding down to the same finish grit in a small area. Other then that keep sanding ( this is why I hate refinishing it's always something). There is a guy near me who with sell me some machine time on his 37" thickness sander and he can take it down to 220 grit and every thing is dead flat, but if you start with a twist in your top it won't take twist out I think he was letting me use it for like $75 an hour and he helped.

[Wimayo]

I would try applying more stripper to the area and work it in using a stiff brush and/or one of the abrasive 3M pads. Then, after it sits for the recommended amount of time, rinse it off with flowing water while rubbing it more with the brush and/or abrasive pad. I've had good results using this method. Maybe it will work for you.

[Von]

On 5/10/2023 at 6:09 PM, Wimayo said:

I would try applying more stripper to the area and work it in using a stiff brush and/or one of the abrasive 3M pads. Then, after it sits for the recommended amount of time, rinse it off with flowing water while rubbing it more with the brush and/or abrasive pad. I've had good results using this method. Maybe it will work for you.

Thanks @Wimayo, I'm gave this a try today. Wood still damp when I left it, so it is hard to tell, but I think it helped. I plan on letting the stripper sit longer tomorrow.

On 5/10/2023 at 6:08 PM, Dave H said:

I'm guessing you don't want to put a different stain on? If you were I would go with a darker stain and see what happens on the under side, sanding down to the same finish grit in a small area. 

@Dave HI will probably try staining to match I can't get it out. I don't think it will be hard on the end grain, but the blotchy stuff worries me. Thanks.

[Von]

Well, using the stripper helped some, but not completely. I broke out the belt sander today and accepted the top is going to be a little thinner. Thanks all for the suggestions.

[Von]

Belt sander worked but I would definitely look into thickness sander, as @Dave H suggested, next time.