Wood Filler Blotches

[Pear Tree Cottage]

I'm in the process of restoring some original Victorian pine floorboards - they are currently sanded and pretty much ready for stain

This weekend I've filled a lot of old woodworm holes, tracks and general gouges caused over the past 100 years. I've used an ebony filler. But when sanding the filler after it's set, the dust/residue has created lots of blotches around the filled areas. I'm confident these blotches will be visible once I've stained and sealed.

I've since sanded the blotches using 150grit and washed using warm water - which if anything has made things worse, as the filler is water based so it's spreading when rubbed with a damp cloth. I'm very conscious about sanding further as the boards are old, weak and thin - pretty much on their limit as it is.

Any advice on how to remove the blotches?

For what it's worth, this didn't happen on the sample boards I used - but I suspect that's because I only used a very small amount of filler to sample.

 

[foxhole]

Rub with 000 wire wool a clean off with white spirit .water based fillers are very weak for timber flooring .

 

[Pear Tree Cottage]

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a try tonight.

The filler I used is Brummer Stopping Yellow Label - I actually think it's solvent based (says it designed for floors). It's set very hard, but water seems to loosen it up.

 

[Pear Tree Cottage]

Gave the white spirits and wire wool ago with no luck.

I then re-sanded 80, 100, 150 grit which have improved things, but there's still a subtle splotch. I've prepped a 3rd sample board and going to try and re-create the blotches tonight and staining to see how it looks.