Did I BLO it?

[bob]

I built a big sill for a bow window, using birch "roasted" by a local mill to give it a dark brown tone similar to mahogany. Anyway, I planed and sanded it to a finish that looked pretty darn good, and applied a coating of linseed. The finish was gorgeous, but unfortunately, a few thin spots of gal-oo that I hadn't detected earlier showed through pretty bad. A few days later, I sanded out the glue spots, and reapplied the BLO.

This is where it went South. The spots that had been sanded clean just stayed matte, almost as if they just weren't taking the oil. I'm wondering if the sanding process had some sort of sealing effect on the wood, the oil/dust being ground right into the wood.

I could try and plane and sand it all, but I'm afraid I'll end up with the same problem. I could also try to just flip it over and use the other side, but I like this side better.

Any ideas on how I can save this?

Thanks

[chaniarts]

wide belt sander?

[CW]

You're right about it sealing the wood. Wet sanding with BLO or Watco is a good grain filler. Instead of sanding, use a scraper. It will make chips instead of dust.

[Jim Weisgram]

What kind of sandpaper? What grit? Try garnet 180 or 220 for this purpose. The other suggestion to use a scraper is also good. I wonder if they meant "cabinet scraper" or not. Where the comment was "chips", I get fine "shavings" if I've tuned and burnished the cabinet scraper up recently (which is just a rectangular piece of the right kind of metal).