Another thought
Hi again, I was thinking... We had an H34 with a badly water stained sole. If the wood is not delaminated, try using TSP (Tri Soduim phosphate). This is an old Navy detergent that my Dad turned me onto many years ago. It's fantastic stuff for cleaning wood. Wash the sole with soap and water to remove most of the dirt. While the wood is still wet, wash and scrub the sole with a pad like the 3m srubbers. Do this 2 or 3 times. It removed all the discoloration from the exposed wood and brought the holly out to look like new. Let the wood dry and finish sand all the affected areas. It took just a little amount of sanding mainly to rough up the existing finish and take down the raised grain in places. I used an electric DA sander. If you never tried one you're in for a pleasent surprise as they are far more effective than the old type sanders. If you can spring for it get the Porter Cable Sander that looks a bit like an angle grinder. I can't say enough about how efective this sander is. It sands like crazy and seems to get more life out of the sanding discs it uses. After sanding the sole, vacuum up the dust as best as possible and wipe the sole down with a tack cloth (you can get them at Lowes or Home depot or any hardware store that sells paint) to remove any remaining dust as you go along with the finish. I used 3 coats of Minwaxes gloss Helmsman Polyurethane and scuffed up the finish with fine steel wool between coats to refinish the sole. Make sure to wipe the area down with the tack cloth just before applying the next coat to pick up dust that spoilsthe finish. It gave us great footing, a great long lasting finish and was easy to work with. Hope this helps, Ted
