Hi Everyone,

I'm new here and am in the process of refinishing some older hardwood floors (from 1933 I believe) I have managed to bring most of the flooring down to bare wood except patches that seem to literally be baked onto the flooring. I believe that I will be able to take care of the patches with a hand sander but it will take FOREVER. Is there anyway to use some sore of remover to loosen or lessen the stubborn areas and maybe sand afterward to get the poly off? I look forward to your thoughts!

You ought to have started with a coarser grit paper to begin the sanding. When you get to the final sanding you will only be removing the deepest scratches from earlier papers. Methylene chloride paint remover will help dissolve any of the floor varnishes used in the past. You can scrape off the softened finish with a sharp paint scraper or a carbide scraper. Then us a random orbit finish sander to smooth the wood with 80 grit.

I went from 36 to 60 to 80 grit.

That would be the normal sequence. Is the flooring fastened down well?
Sometimes you need to start sanding at an angle to help flatten the floor. Then go straight with the grain with the same paper, or reverse the angle to offset the first sanding to get the floor flat. Then the next papers will work better.
I like to do the final sanding with 100 grit that has been slicked with a used edger paper a little while the machine is running so there is a smoother surface with less fuzz. I have to press down on the floor with the drum, a little, and move as fast as I can to keep the place where the paper comes together on the drum from leaving as many drum marks because I use a drum sander instead of a belt on the big machine.