|
|
|
 |
Letter 10275 Removing oil and water stains from wood
++++ Oops! Our kid left a cold drink on our dining room table overnight and now there's a nice, new water ring. What's the best of the ten million ways to fix it? Need a little help. Gary M
[last name purged for privacy due to age of posting]
+++++ One way to remove white water stains from wood is to use a hot iron on a smoothly-textured, lint-free cloth placed over the stain, iron very briefly (seconds), lift the cloth, and repeat until stain is gone. It really works! Heather G [last name purged for privacy due to age of
posting]
+++++ I was considering refinishing a desk I had bought from Bombay Co. when I put a hot TV diner down on the surface. Ironing out the water rings and heat stains works!! I tried all of the other tips, such as Armorall, salt and olive oil, peanut butter and mayonnaise. I tried for a week and finally got it out with just my iron on medium heat and a dry cloth. Jenay R [last name purged for privacy due to age
of posting]
+++++ I had a terrible water stain on my Grandmother's cherry buffet. I tried using a little bit of NON-GEL toothpaste on a clean, damp, lint-free cloth. I rubbed it into the wood several times. After I removed the residue, I polished it and I was AMAZED at the results. Maggie B
[last name purged for privacy due to age of posting]
+++++ The ironing
worked... used an old t'shirt... low
setting on my iron and voila... the fresh water mark created this
morning is now gone... an old water stain didn't come completely
off... but is greatly diminished Gil C [last name purged for privacy due to age of
posting]
July 5, 2006 Sewing Machine Oil Stain on Wood Table. I have these cute little rings of sewing machine oil from the suction cups on my new sewing machine that I wasn't aware of before placing the machine on my dining room table. I've tried the iron/T-shirt method, and the toothpaste/baking soda method. Neither have worked so far. Any suggestions? Anita S
[last name purged for privacy due to age of posting]
July 14, 2006 Metal can leaked insect repellent on my teakwood furniture. How do I remove an oil stain from a teakwood outdoor table, it's very dark and has penetrated deeply. The can was left on the table on a hot humid day, but it left a mark even tho there is a canopy over the table. Patricia P [last name purged for privacy due to age of
posting]
July 24, 2006 Wow. Unbelievable. After FIVE YEARS of living with two cloudy white heat stains on my good dining table, and covering them up with a tablecloth....I finally found this website and used the heat/iron method. It works brilliantly, and the table is as new. Thank you to who ever posted this tip. Lesley Coull
August 7, 2006 I had a red cherry hard wood floor with polyurethane finish and I clumsily spilled some vegetable oil. It has sat there for over 10 hours and everything I tried did not work. Please help! Liz Murphy
September 12, 2006 Bought brand new sideboard, had baby, got lovely flowers, sat flowers on new sideboard, now got nasty dark brown ring mark. Please help. VICTORIA MORRISON
September 15, 2006 I am in the process of completely redoing an old dresser that I think is cherry or mahogany. I took all the old finish off with a sander and had lined the drawers up on a table in my garage. One of the kids put the cat's water dish on one of the drawers and of course it was spilled. Now there is a dark stain on it. Is there any way of getting it out? Please be very specific. I read something about using Oxalic Acid [link is to product info at Amazon] but am not sure how to go about it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Laura Velasquez
September 28, 2006 I just tried the method that uses a cotton piece
of fabric (no lint!) and an iron to get out cloudy white water
stains. Janis Ireland
October 31, 2006 A pineapple in a basket leaked juice onto a pine table and left a dark grey ring. How can I get this out? Mary Logan
November 3, 2006 I am restoring an antique rifle, the wood stock is saturated with oil from past oilings/cleaning. Tried Murphy's Oil Soap [link is to product info at Amazon] which helped a lot. Any suggestions? Allan R. Clay
November 22, 2006 We used the t-shirt and medium heat iron on our fresh water ring (left from a hot cup of tea). The ring is gone! But, I do caution about the heat of the iron. The temperature got a bit too hot and it ended up permanently leaving some lint from the t-shirt behind. The lint looks much better than the ring, so we're happy. Make sure you're patient and take your time with a cooler iron. Julie Dandliker
November 26, 2006 I too got material stuck to where I was trying to remove an old water stain. Now I have two awful areas on my wood surface. Any suggestions for getting rid of the new disaster? Judy MacAulay
December 2, 2006 I had two circular white water stains on a beautiful teak dining table. For 5 years I've been covering them with place mats. Ten minutes with a white napkin and an iron at medium heat, and the table looks brand new again. Thanks so much! Susan Wieland
A friend spilled nail polish remover on my wood kitchen table. How do I bring back the shine to the table? There are visible rings left. Angela Dalis
December 16, 2006 I am absolutely amazed at the brilliant person who suggested using heat on water marks. I bought mahogony furtniture (expensive) I loved and was being so careful. I put a cloth on the table to protect it. The heat from a hot tea went throught he cloth and left a mark mark the size of loonie. I have asked and asked and noone could help until I finally found this site. I used a blowdryer and wiped as I heated. It took about 10 min. but it worked, amazing the spot is totally gone. I am thrilled. Thank you so much.....I can't wait to tell everyone who had no answers for me except to refinsih the whole table. Thank you again..... Diane Cantin
December 28, 2006 HELP ! Ruined roommate's bar ! I had a poinsettia on my roommate's brand new, beautiful, black wood bar for the holidays and the water leaked through its can. Now there is a terrible water ring and I'm afraid the wood is saturated. ANY IDEAS ?! HELP !? Susie Oszustowicz
A bar of soap in a paper wrapping was set on top of our new cherry dress and left an oil stain mark. any suggestions? Mike Turner
January 14, 2007 I tried the iron and cloth on a white heat stain on my teak dining room table - it worked! That stain had been there for 2 years! Then I used the toothpaste solution on a more recent dye stain from a colored piece of paper (paper stained the wood) and it took it out. Thanks! Russell Cooper
My husband and I have a gorgeous 1930's dining
room set. We had a family dinner the other day and when cleaning up
noticed two heat marks on our table!!! Horrified!.....I took your
suggestions and used white toothpaste and I am happy to say that we
were absolutely amazed to see the heat marks disappear!!! Thank you
soooo very much for the suggestions....I can rest easy knowing I
didn't ruin such a gorgeous antique piece!! Jane Conte
February 1, 2007 Placed a plastic cover on the new cherry dining table. There are oil like residue stains now on the table. How do I remove them ? Any suggestions, please help !! Pratik Chan
February 2, 2007 I am one happy girl right now! who ever said about useing an iron on a water amrk left on wood~is a superstar! I tried a few things already that I found on the internet AND they didnt work!!! I was about to give up ~~ thanks so much!!! Heather K
I used the hot iron on the white water stain and Thanks guys, it worked a treat. keep up the good ideas Ian Spencer
February 11, 2007 How can I get white water stains lined with a brown ring from antique pine table tops? Carole Fultz
February 20, 2007 hooray,UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!! Deniz
It totally works, hot water stain heat stained table used hot iron method and it took about 10 minutes. Dustin Pause
Awesome tip with the iron! My wife and I just got
a beautiful antique table from her boss and I thought I had ruined it
when I forgot and sat a box of hot chicken wings on it, leaving nasty
white heat marks. A white lint free cloth, a hot iron and 5 minutes
of ironing fixed it! AWESOME TIP! Josh Richardson
I recently bought a brand new wood dining table and decided to place a plastic cover on it to protect it. Well I just took it off the other day and now there are oil like stains on the table! Help! What do I do to get my table looking like it did before? There are parts that look normal and then a big part of the table top looks oily!!! Tina Patel
April 11, 2007 My son accidentally spilled liquid white out on my beautiful cherry wood coffee table. Any suggestions on how I can get this off. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Susan Cusumano
April 13, 2007 Thank you so much for the advice on removing white heat marks from wood. We used my Mom's dining room table for Easter Dinner and when I removed the tablecloth discovered a hot dish had made white marks. I used the linen table napkin with an iron and the marks are gone!!! I'm sure my Mom is looking down from heaven and is pleased too!!! Judy DeCaire
My nephew and a friend put a hot pizza on our
antique cherry wood table and left 9 or 10 circular 2" marks on it. I
thought it was ruined permanently but I tried the soft flannel cloth
and a medium iron (steam off!) and after 10 minutes only one nickel
sized stain remains and that is where the wooden nail is on that end
of the table and I'm guessing it sunk in deeper there because of the
opening. Vandra Morgan
April 23, 2007 Motor oil on wood dining table. I am Jennifer Holmes. My monther died about 12 years ago. My brother got her dining room suite. He recently moved and I received her table. The table was in a mess. The finish was ruined(my stepfather had done that prior to the death of my mother) My brother put a cloth on it and didn't bother with refinishing it. I now have it and want to refinish. When I stripped the finish off, there still remained a deep-seated oil stain in the wood. Is there anything that I can use to pull the oil out of the wood? Jennifer C. Holmes
May 14, 2007 Fantastic tip about the iron and white cloth! It really works, I have just literally removed the damage that I did to my teak dining table 2 days ago when trying to steam iron linen curtains that were far too big for my ironing board. Who would have thought that I could fix the damage with the culprit!! Thanks very much for the tip. Shirley
Phillips
May 22, 2007 My girlfriend and I ironed on her roomates table and left cloudy white areas on the finish. Can anyone tell me how to fix it. Im guessing well have to sand and re-poly, but I'm hoping someone can explain how to do it best or give me another option. Please help! Ben McPherson
May 27, 2007 I had company & placed hot plates on my brand new mahogany dining table, for the coffee & tea pots............when I was cleaning up, they left rings through the protection...........remembering my grandmother using polish to repair a similar problem, I tried it.............have been applying many applications of polish and buffing.......most of the problem is gone, but I still have an obvious shadow........am I headed in the right direction and just have to keep at it or should I start crying?? Michelle Sherwood
June 3, 2007 It worked!! I was skeptical, since heat made the mark in the first place. I used a hair dryer first. Didn't work for me. Then I used the iron. No more white marks :-) Make sure you use the iron on medium heat with NO STEAM! I used a t-shirt cloth. Worked great. My husband swore it wouldn't work, but it did. I used lemon oil to polish and the table looks like new. Thanks for the advise. Steph Pribula
June 3, 2007 How can we remove water stains on bare wood? I put some planters on a radiator cover, made of light bare wood, and the planters leaked. Does the iron method work on bare wood? Mary Jean Babic
June 5, 2007 Wow! I had a white cloudy water stain from a flower pot on my solid birch table, I thought my table was ruined. I tried the toothpaste and it didn't work. The stain had been there for several months. Today I tried the medium heat iron and a t-shirt and the stain is gone. I then rubbed it with lemon oil and unless you knew there had been a spot there you really can't see it. Thank you so much! My husband & I are very impressed. Debra Martens
I had great results today with the iron method on my 60 year old cherry dining table which recently had received three water marks. Two disappeared and the 3rd is much fainter. I followed the iron (no steam and only about 6 seconds)up with another home remedy of equal parts apple cider vinegar and olive oil and rubbed in the grain and buffed out with a dry soft cloth. It looks gorgeous and 90% better. Rose Anderson
June 16, 2007 Hi I dropped scented oil on my wooden table and now the varnish is fading off, I wiped some off immediately and the varnish just came off. now my beautiful table is varnishless on one of the drawers. how can I fix this. please help!!! Areli Bosque
June 18, 2007 Help my daughter spilt some oil on our pine stairs, they are about fifteeen years old and have never been treated with any products so the oil has gone right through, to make things worse she tried to absorb the oil using salt!!! so we are left with some pretty discusting patchy stairs any ideas to how to restore them. my daughter is only twelve and was trying to do what was right. Valerie Waller
June 20, 2007 Is there anything that can remove deep seated motor oil from wood and could it accept a finished? What was your response to Jennifer C. Holmes, April 23, 2007 Janet Wagner
June 23, 2007 Removing OIL stains from wood. I have read many posts about how to remove water stains from wood but I have yet to see any advice on how to remove oil/grease stains. I accidently dumped a tray of BBQ ribs on my outdoor unfinished deck and the oil immediately penetrated the wood. I have tried numerous commercial cleaners, pressure washers and sanders with little difference. Pressure treated wood is not cheap so any help you can provide would be appreciated. John Toth
June 24, 2007 Going to kill husband! hi we just bought a fairly polished dining table and had to transport it 3hrs. apparantly my husband did not know the blanket he used was damp and therefore we got it home and it has several water stains all over it. will the iron method work for this please help me!!!! ELICIA RADIN
June 30, 2007 Alot of wood stains will come out with a product called
Magic Eraser [link is to product info at Amazon]. It has taken
out white heat stains on a coffee table of mine, and dark spots on a
end table. Jennifer Beety
July 4, 2007 Had a vase of white lilies on my new highly polished mahogany dining table and the pollen has fallen onto my table. I immediately wiped with water and cloth but this has caused an unsightly stain. I beg for your help to my dilemma. Jacqueline Mcdonald
July 8, 2007 I have a finished wood table and left hot bread
rolls on the exposed surface too long and as a result, 2 white heat
stains appeared. I tried toothpaste, mayo + ashes, oil and none of
those suggestins worked. M Viola
Unbelievable!!! Thank goodness I stumbled across this website while looking for tips on how to remove white water mark stains from wood. I have a beautiful 1943 Lane cedar chest that belonged to my parents...unfortunately about 10 years I sat a pail of water down on it, sprang to answer the phone, got distracted thereafter for several hours ....forgetting totally about the pail quietly obliterating my family piece. I could have cried. For the past 10 years I have had to cover it with a quilt. Needless to say I was quite dubious about the ironing tip so I tried a few of the others here first-- the stain barely budged, if at all. As a last resort I went and got the iron and a t-shirt. I started out on a very low setting with a dry iron...slowly advancing the heat setting and monitoring what was happening about every 5-10 seconds in hopes to catch it quickly if it was making things worse. After raising the heat level slightly higher than medium...VOILA----that 10 year old HUGE pail water mark is gone...and I mean GONE!!!!! I am just thrilled to bits...THANK YOU..THANK YOU...THANK YOU...to all who have shared their success with this tip....so I came back to add one of my own since my stain was HUGE and 10 years...but it is only a memory now:) Sarah Jesse
Owens
July 21, 2007 Can an automotive oil stain be removed from bare wood? I am refinishing my cupboards in the garage and I accidentally spilt some used automotive oil on the bare wood. Is there a way to remove the stain so that I can restain the wood and not have some unsightly blemmish? Barry Myers
July 28, 2007 A word of warning. Jonathan Lefor
July 28, 2007 We recently purchased a very expensive dining room table for our new home. At first, I was so nervous about it, that I kept it covered with a tablecloth, but realizing I was covering up the reason we bought it in the first place, its beauty, I removed the cloth only to have my son set a glass of juice outside the placemat. It caused a pretty bad water ring and I am afraid of using anything on it, for fear of making it worse. Will the iron method work on water rings? Does anyone have any suggestions? Sheila K.
August 6, 2007 If you are cautious and want to hire a furniture refinishing expert to come in and fix this stain, no one will fault you, Sheila -- it is your very expensive table! But, c'mon :-) I'm glad I don't have an expensive table at risk; good luck whichever way you go!
August 18, 2007 LEFT A HOT TEAPOT ON MY WIFES PRIDE AND JOY A HIGHLY POLISHED CHERRY DINING TABLE LEAVING A WHITE MARK ABOUT THE SIZE OF A SAUCER. TRIED THE WARM IRON AND LINEN CLOTH HAY PRESTO AFTER ABOUT THREE MINUTES THE MARK DISAPPEARED BEFORE MY VERY EYES MAGIC!!!!!!!!!THANK YOU WHOEVER POSTED THIS SOLUTION YOU SAVED MY BACON D. NEWINS
August 22, 2007 We left a solid wood entertainment center outdoors temporarily and covered as best as we could with a tarp but rain still leaked in, now some of the edges and seams have dark (almost black) water stains. Any suggestions? Donna Alston
August 28, 2007 I placed a warm cardboard pizza box on my coffee table, and about an hour later discovers a huge white, heat stain. Shot hot air at the stain for about 10 minutes using my hair dryer on hot and am so relieved to tell you the stain in gone! Thanks for the great advise! Maria Palis
August 31, 2007 I too want to report success with the ironing method of removing
water marks (or, clouds in this case). BUT be forewarned to keep the
not-too-hot iron moving, and don't stay on it too long, and do not
apply heavy pressure. Keep checking every 30 seconds as someone above
suggested, or you may damage the wood surface! Aurora Lee
September 4, 2007 My daughter thought she would iron on my dining table with a towel
under it. Juanita White
September 30, 2007
Wayne F
THAT WAS AMAZING! I'm living with a surrogate mother right now. Her grandson was over and left a burrito on her cherry wood table. It left a mark. The ironing thing WORKED!! I was so amazed and as she said, she was so "geeked!" lol. Thanks guys!!! ashley doute
Juanita - any luck? I wasn't thinking and made some t-shirts with
iron on transfers on top of the wood table. Well - it left a nice
white mark on my espresso table. Anyone know how to remove
this? David O 1 2
Dear Reader : please choose what you want to do.
 |
Save
This Page (why?) - Home - ©1995-2008 finishing.com
