Help! Taking scratches out of plywood top

[lcm1947]

Boy I'm bummed. I built a Birch laminated plywood coffee table top edged with Red Oak and just noticed that the plywood has some marks that I know will show up even plainer after appling the Bulls Eye Seal Coat and poly. The trouble is of course that the Birch laminate is so thin that sanding any more will probably sand through the laminate. Anybody know of anything else I can do to get rid of them. Please don't say start over. I won't be able to take it and may just break down and kill myself.

[blame]

you could try to raise the defects by using water and heat from an iron but dont use it to hot or you'll burn it

blame

[gwyneth]

If you try that, you'd be better off aiming steam from the iron at the scratches instead of moistening the wood, then using dry heat.

But can you give more info? How many scratches, how prominent, how long, etc.?

I just got Sandor Nagaz-(sp.)'s "Fixing Woodworking Mistakes" and some of his ideas are pretty creative. But methods depend on whether you've got a bunch of teeny scratches, or one or two big gashes, or...?

[John Hunter]

You could always use a pour on finish such as http://www.creative-wholesale.com/Envirotex%20Lite.htm

[Ken Massingale]

Mac,
First, are you being too critical? Can the scratches be seen from a distance by someone who doesn't know they are there? Or are you seeing them up close and using a raking light? We WW's are usually our own worst critics.
If they are really that noticeable, very lightly hand sand using a cushioned sanding block with the next higher grit than you finished with. Are the scratches swirls from an ROS? Again, lightly hand sand.
Wipe the top with MS and have the LOYL ready to examine the top from a normal distance.
Good luck, Mac.

[mschrank]

Mac,

Yes, what Ken said. If these are really not too deep, your clear top-coat will fill them in a bit...or all the way if you apply enough coats and sand back between them (don't sand back the first coat...or maybe just very lightly).

Top coats don't highlight scratches the same way as stain...so you might be OK.

[lcm1947]

Thanks for the replies guys. Well they really aren't scratches more like some kind of - like marks. There's about 5 of them. Ranging in length from 4 or so inches to the worst 9". They kind of look like something maybe rubbed against the ply or something. I just don't know but I sure didn't notice them before. Maybe it's something I did but can't imagine what. Anyway I'll try lightly hand sanding with a higher grit paper like you suggested Ken and mschrank thanks for mentioning that since it's not a stain that maybe it won't be noticeable. I didn't know that. One more reason not to use stain I guess. Thanks everybody.