Marks in wood before treating

[ekrig]

Hi everyone,

I rebuilt my deck in September of last year. I was thinking of staining and treating it this summer. I had forgotten to sand off the markings in the wood so I started with that but now the place where I sanded has a different color. I thought that maybe waiting a month would make it blend in but still is very noticeable (see photos). Do you think I should wait longer to see if they blend or just go ahead with treating? Or is there something to make that wood age a bit faster? (I was planning to use a clear stain and sealer, so there is no stain color to help covering it up.)

Any tips are welcome. Thank you so much.

 

[Snoonyb]

Welcome.
Or you could wait until next summer.

Wood ages differently by species, so if you have a leftover piece you could attempt to affect it, after sanding, by using things like bleach or ammonia, in successively stronger mixtures, or stains.

 

[joecaption]

Any "clear" sealer is going to last the shortest amount of time so your going to have to reseal it more often.
Every 2 years at the most!
That's one thing I always do while building a deck is sand off all those grade makings, remove all the stapled on stickers on the ends before even building it.
It just drives me crazy when I see a so called pro not take the time to do that.

 

[ekrig]

Thank you for the suggestions. This was my first deck and I had read somewhere that those went away with normal weathering, so it was mostly my ignorance. The option of waiting another year did cross my mind, but I'm concerned that 2 years unprotected will do to much damage to the wood.

While I was looking up online, someone seemed to suggest that one should sand the whole deck at least before the first coat of sealer. That would definitely make these marks blend in but seems like a crazy amount of work, not to mention that it would likely rub on a number of the screws. Do you usually do or recommend doing that?