Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Please Help - sanded too heavily through polyurethane coat

Hi everybody,

I desperately need help correcting a finishing mistake. My husband and I decided to stain and finish our unfinished fireplace (it is a large, removable oak surround piece). We stained it and finished it with one coat of poly and it looked beautiful. We sanded it with 220 grit according to the instructions on the poly can, but I used an electric sander. Obviously, we sanded too deep because it took the wood down to a lighter color in some patches and went through the poly.

I didn't know what else to do, so I took some of the old stain on a rag and went over the areas that looked lighter to even out the color. This worked in terms of color, but now (12 hours later) some areas still feel a bit tacky.

I am wondering what to do now - should I just put another coat of poly on top and pray that it dries OK, or do I need to strip the whole thing down and start over?

Thanks in advance - I'm kicking myself for letting this happen! :(

You're going to continue to have issues, so your best bet is to strip it all down and re do it.

If the stain is oil-based, wipe the sticky area with a cloth dampened in mineral spirits to remove the stickiness. You may have some finish left where you stained again, and this is keeping the stain from drying because is it puddled there rather than having soaking into the surface of the wood.

Once this dries, decide whether you want to continue to finish the piece or strip and start over.

Hope this helps.