Hello,
I have an ipe deck I am about to refinish with Messmer's natural ipe finish. I will be cleaning it using their cleaner and brightener before. I have scratches in the deck caused by my wife's grandmother who had a rock stuck in the rubber foot of her walker when she visited. It's not that deep but definitely noticeable and it goes against the grain horizontally across the boards for about a 10 foot span, the path she took going from the front door down the deck to the driveway. Can smybody suggest how to get rid of the scratch before I refinish? I have read to clean the deck prior to sanding and use 80 grit sandpaper on an orbital sander over the scratches. Do I need to send the entire deck or can I just go over the area of the boards where the scratch is? I'm hoping I can do the ladder but I don't want the stain to take differently after it's all done. I'm thinking since people say ipe a lot of stain or the ceiling or whatever you want to call whenever Messmer's is, that I would be able to just saying with the scratches and it would still staying evenly. Any advice would help, thank you so much.