Mahogany door stain problem

I sanded with 120 grit my mahogany exterior door. There were some areas in which I accidentally sanded too much and the bare wood was exposed. After I stained with minwax, the areas that were sanded too much were very dark and not uniform with the rest of the stain. Is there anything I can do to fix these darker areas to make them lighter and more uniform with the rest of the staining?

You could try some carpet cleaning agents or other solvents to see if you can lighten those areas. I have used oxalic acid to bleach wood but I don't know how it works on stain which is often based on solid particles not susceptible to bleach.

You might have to scrape off a very small amount more and then stain with much lighter stains to try to match the mahogany. The problem with trying to match the colors if you sand through the veneer is that the white woods that are usually used under the veneer are much more absorbent of stain.

If you have areas in the middle of a section, instead of just an edge, you might have to replace the veneer.

120 grit is some pretty rough stuff. You made the wood too raw and porous and it absorbed alot of stain.

What are you trying to do, refinish the door, repair an area that has water damage etc.? If your refinishing the entire door complete the sanding process and remove all the stain and work up to 220 then stain.
Need more details.

Chris

From his description, I think he got through the veneer to the soft wood underneath. That usually happens at ends or edges as the sander runs off the flat part, and would be especially bad with 120 grit.

If you get through to the under layers it is almost impossible to fix unless it is a very small area at an end where it may not be too conspicuous.

ouch...yeah thats not good if thats the case but not the end of the world. Check out woodnet.com or Sawmillcreek.com they will be able to give you specifics on how to repair this.
Good luck

If all else fails, you can buy door skins (assuming it is a slab door) in any wood veneer, and put a new one on. These can be quite thin, so be careful when sanding! www.rockler.com. Also, to get an even stain, you may need to preseal the wood. This helps even out the absorbtion. The Rockler catalog has some decent descriptions of the products, and you can get some ideas from that.