I stained my wood too dark. Now I am sanding it with 220 grit but the sand paper is clogging with color after about 2 mins.. should I let it dry more?

Yup, let it dry - sure sounds like it's still somewhat wet.

You also will have to go after it with something more aggressive than 220 grit to get down past the stain (if you can at all). Then, bring the surface back with graduated finer and finer sandpaper.

Nicky:

After you sand the old stain off, then if this is an interior wood stain, dilute your stain with mineral spirits.

Interior wood stains are nothing more than dye dissolved in either alcohol or mineral spirits. So, to stain a wood darker, all you need to do is give the alcohol or mineral spirits a good week or so to evaporate from the wood between coats. Once the mineral spirits or alcohol from the last coat has evaporated and the wood is dry again, then stain again. The wood will again absorb some stain, adding to the amount of dye in the wood, and each time you do that, the wood will darken a bit.

That way, you gradually darken the wood to the desired colour by progressively adding more dye to the wood. What you did by not thinning your stain was overshoot on the first coat of stain.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nestor,