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I just joined this nice stripey cedar top set this morning and sanded it today on my lunch break. I noticed on one of the pieces, on both sides, there is some sort of stain or discoloration, sort of a jaundice yellow-ish look. I thought it might sand out, but that wasn't the case.

In the first pic you can see it towards the bottom of the left side. It's a little less pronounced but covers more area on the other side nearer the waist.

Any ideas on what this is, and is there a way to fix it?

I really don't mind cosmetic defects so much (it is a 2A set afterall), but I think it would just look dirty or waterstained under a finish. It's on both sides so I can't just turn it over. Maybe I just need to sand it a bit more on the side where it's not so bad? It's already at .150 thick, but I guess there's not much to lose by taking it closer to final thickness to see how it turns out.

It's been stickered high up on a closet shelf since I got it from Shane, so I don't think it's water damage, unless the package got wet when it shipped. I think I've had it for over a year, but I don't remember the package looking out of the ordinary. I have another set bought at the same time that appears fine.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

When you said it was on both side, I though well it just goes all the way thru but now I see that it is in a different place on the flip side. I think you could just sand it out and since it's still pretty thick you should be able to sand it out of both sides. If your putting in a back strip, you may want to do that before you sand more.

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I don't think I'll put a backstrip on this top. :) I may go ahead and put in the rosette before I continue sanding, it'll be very simple so redoing it wouldn't be a big hassle if the stain doesn't come out of this top. I did already take it down from .190 to .150 on the one side that's not stained so much.

I was thinking about that, obviously at some point the stain would have to go away since it's not in the same spot on both sides

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Jon, that second pic looks like water staining.  Moving the pigment from one place to another, even pooling like in the first pic.  ?  I bet if that's the problem it may go deep?

Good looking set otherwise. 

I see pigment transfer on the surface of walnut while drying and it gets pretty deep into the wood.  I've learned to wet my stickers and that helped a lot with that problem.

 

So it wasn't a good choice to use a cedar top as a coaster in my shop?

In general, how thin can a cedar top be taken? This is for a 00, so it could probably go thinner than on a dreadnaught. I realize each piece of wood is different, so maybe that's not a good internet forum question.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

I sanded it down to a little under .125 and the stain wasn't fading any. I'll save it and use it for a Size 5 or something.

Thanks for the help and comments, guys.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Sunburst

Or maybe a black top?

Don't throw it away.....

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Hey the Subject fields came back, Yippee!

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