As I was in the shop this weekend, I found a project I had started some time ago and discarded for no reason that I can remember.  Looking at the piece, I can vaguely remember two things that had bothered me, so I put it away and figured inspiration would strike at some point.  One was a chunk of wood that had splintered off around the rim and the second was “weak spot” running through the bottom of the plate that had been attacked by bugs.

For the splintery part, I just sanded the lip down until the broken pieces of wood were smooth, and left it that way.  For the parts where the wood was starting to break down, I don’t think any more sanding would have helped.  If you look at the picture closely, you can see that a lot of the color variation in the wood is from the decay.  I don’t think this one will see the fire pit, but I doubt it will be displayed proudly.  Perhaps I’ll give it to one of the girls to help corral “dresser crap”.