George Natan

Wood preserver made wood grey?

I'm making a bench and I'm at the point where I'm sanding it and treating it before varnish/oil.

I used wood preserver and left it to dry, but I've come back after a day and the preserver has brought out these grey/black areas on the wood. Especially around the little circles in the grain (not sure what they're called).

Why is this?

How should I fill in these holes in my basement floor?

Our 1917 home had a coal storage area when we moved in (complete with at least a ton of coal). There were four 2x4s sunken into the concrete with horizontal slats along the side to contain it all. We have since removed the coal and the wooden storage. Yesterday we finished clearing those holes out as they were filled with rotted wood chunks, coal, and misc debris.

Now we're planning on filing them in. But before I go dumping Quikcrete in, does anyone have any advice, insight, or suggestions? The slab is not level with the adjacent slab. There is a big chunk that is broken off and loose, but I would like to keep it if possible. The bottoms of the crevices and holes are dirt. We would like to be able to scrub the slab down and remove all of the layers of built up coal dust and other dirt. But I'm leery of throwing down water and cleaners with those crevices, especially now that we know there's only dirt under there.

Pictures with tape measure to give you some idea of what we're working with here.