Q: One visitor asked, "I am attempting to refinish my stairs and discovered deep gouges in the stair treads and risers. I used a putty filler and then stained some of the stairs only to discover these marks are quite visible, Is there any product or technique that will help these marks blend in with the rest of wood so they are not visible?"

A: It is best to try and sand the gouges out, if possible. If not, there are colour match fillers that can be applied after the first coat of finish to match the colour of your treads. It is not a perfect solution, but if you get a close colour match between the filler and tread colour, it should be acceptable. Mind you, I don't know how big of a gouge you are talking about here. These colour match fillers, for example, a line created by Min Wax/Dura Seal can be purchased from hardwood flooring retailers.