Just sand it down and recoat. Not a bit deal at all. just try fixing that if it were laminate or a cracked stone! BB us a renewable surface. Renew it.

Sand out the whole burned area as lightly as possible, feathering the edges and prime that area with several coats of Waterlox - then I'd do a light sanding of a strip the width of the burned area to blend in the patch and recoat it with several coats ... ending with a final coat over the whole top.

The hot pan problem is why we put a small granite "landing pad" on either side of the stove.

Consider routing out a spot for some permanent granite or ceramic tile "coasters"

Thanks, all. I know it's not a huge deal, but finishing the counters was such a PITA and we just did it back in March. I was looking for exactly the sort of answer that lazy_gardens provided. We were thinking we might have to sand the entire chunk of counter down and do another five coats (with 24+ hours in between each one) to get the finish to match correctly.

I guess we'll see how it goes whenever it winds up getting done. It's a highly used counter area between the sink and the stove, so there's never going to really be a convenient time to do it. Hrmph.

Re: the landing pad idea - I have seen those, but just never really loved the look of them... but I guess I like the look of burnt wood even less! I don't know how much it would have help in this case though, because the burned spot is about a foot away from where I would have one of those installed anyway.

I'd take a 50 grit on a belt sander to that, but I'm pretty experienced. The longer it was left to burn, the deeper the burn has penetrated. The deeper the penetration, the further out you have to sand to make it blend without looking like a butter dish. When the 50 has almost removed all the marks, switch to an 80 grit or so, then finish to final with a random orbital sander.

I have a situation similar to the one lazy Gardens proposes. I really do recommend granite slabs immediately adjacent to the stove top. Since you don't need much material, they can easily be made from remnants and are not expensive.

They had better be small and easily replaceable. Stone needs trivets just like wood.

Sungold makes 220 grit and others for belt sanders. I've used them for years. No way I would touch that with something coarse. You could go through the finish and actually remove wood unnecessarily. Very unnecessary level of scratches to deal with. I'd first wet sand it with a sanding block, by hand, using 1500 grit and see what comes off. You can get a pack of various sheets of fine grit paper in the auto parts section of Walmart. 3M wet/dry at $2.84 for 5 sheets. If it comes out with 1500 you may avoid refinishing depending on the finish thickness. Sand the whole top with 600 if you need to recoat.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/3M-Wetordry-Automotive-Sandpaper/17130293

Re: the landing pad idea - I have seen those, but just never really loved the look of them... but I guess I like the look of burnt wood even less! I don't know how much it would have help in this case though, because the burned spot is about a foot away from where I would have one of those installed anyway.

I have a moveable landing pad with this trivet:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30111087/

It is much bigger than regular trivet, but easy enough to move when needed. I leave it on the 24 section of granite in between my cooktop and oven. It looks nice and it is perfect for setting things. And it is cheap!

"Very unnecessary level of scratches to deal with. I'd first wet sand it with a sanding block, by hand, using 1500 grit and see what comes off."

Very few posts make me laugh out loud, but this one did. A fine nail file is between 400-600 grit and dan1888 is advocating the use of an abrasive 3x finer.

Sweetsarafine, you could sand for days on end with 1,500 and see nothing. 1,500 won't even lower the grain you raised if you sanded wet as dan1888 recommended. 1,500 will probably sand the wood to such a gloss it wouldn't even take an oil finish.

dan1888, keep posting, please. I need the morning smile.

Joseph - "1500 GRADE" is not the same as 1500 GRIT would be if they could make it. It's meant for rubbing out imperfections in your 17th coat of clear lacquer over your 20 coats of Candy Apple red with gold flacks.

From what I have read,( I have this finish on my hardwood floors) the beauty of using waterlox is that new coats can be laid down on top of old coats. You shouldn't have to redo the whole thing. Just sand down the area that's burned and lay down the appropriate number of coats just in that area until it matches.

My first object is to see if the repair can be made without a complete surface refinish. I will always start too fine to begin the process. Wet sanding with a drop of soap puts the burned product in suspension and keeps it going much more so than dry. Once you know where you are you can drop to 600 to speed things up. But doing this pushes you away from most chances of solving this without a complete surface refinish.

The suggestion of using 50 grit with a belt sander on finished wood is so far beyond anything an experienced cabinetmaker would even consider...I reacted with an opposite end of the spectrum view. You have stone experience and substantial expertise. Wood and clear finishes...50 grit....you have no expertise here.

dan1888:

I promise you that wood is scorched under that finish. So unless it's getting stained reddish dark brown, the scorched wood must go, the faster and cooler the better. The area around the removed scorched wood must be feathered in. Go ahead, play around with your 1500. You'll be there for weeks. I'll be ready for refinish within the hour.

Oh, and tell me some more about how I don't know anything about wood refinishing, please. This is a prefinished wood floor; repairs don't get any more difficult than this:

Done in 2 hours. Delighted customer.

This won't be settled over the internet when I see mostly surface finish damage and lifted finish with no wood scorch and you compare it to seeped in water damage...a completely different challenge. There'll be several successful methods to get to a good repair. None include 50 grit and a belt sander. Click on the pictures and look more closely.

dan1888:

Thanks for the suggestion and I did just that. Look at about 2:00. You'll see the finish is gone and burned wood underneath.

I don't know about you, but my customers want cost effective repairs. To be cost effective they must be done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. A 50 grit on a belt sander will remove this mess in minutes. Following with an 80 and a progressively finer abrasive protocol on my Festool Rotex 150 will remove the stock dust-free. I'll have this ready to refinish within a 1/2 hour easily.

My response is aimed at the OP doing the repair themselves just like they did the original 4 coats of finish. Look at the raindrop shaped light shapes right next to dark over every major area. That says finish lift and wood burn doesn't happen like that, imo. Ripe for an easy redo without 50 grit and the divot you'd look at because of the counter edge close to your eyes every day. A floor is a lot farther away.