Letter 10275

Removing water stains from wood furniture

Summary: Heating a white towel or t-shirt with an iron was found remarkable at removing rings and white water stains from furniture. Fairly similar results were reported with a hair dryer.
 
Slightly off target? Jump to:
31774 Removing oil stains from old Pagoda
16383 Oil stain removal from wood furniture

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Q. 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
Treasure Hunter - Marietta, Georgia


+++++

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
- San Antonio, Texas


+++++

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
- West Monroe, Louisiana


+++++

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

thanks so much

Gil C
- Washington DC


 

 

+++++

Was horrified to discover very large stain from coffee pot on dining room table after Christmas dinner. Used warm iron and table napkin on stain. Hey, presto, stain totally removed. Had another small stain that had been on table for two years, guess what, warm iron and napkin removed that also.

Frances H
- Perth, Scotland


April 29, 2006

Erase white wood stains with a Hair dryer in about five minutes. I put a paper plate down on the table it was too hot and made the stain. I didn't find it until the next day. I couldn't find the iron so I improvised, and grabbed the Hair dryer instead. I held the dryer about 4 inches from the stain for about 5 minutes and at the same time buffed it with a dry cloth. It came right out!

Shellie B
- Medina, Ohio


May 5, 2006

Iron and t-shirt works!!!! I was surprised that the white marks came right off!

Caroline S
- Chandler, Arizona


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
- Aberdeen, Scotland


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
JERSEY - UK


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
consumer - Reading, Kansas


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.
It worked beautifully on a 12 by 15 inch solid water stain.
Simply amazing!
You simply iron the piece of cotton on top of the stain. I started with a warm iron and then used a higher setting as I felt comfortable.

Janis Ireland
- Appleton, Wisconsin


October 3, 2006

I have a wooden table finished with black paint, I had put a cold bowl on the table and to my horror it left a white cloud.... I tried the iron method that was suggested on your website...and it worked actually worked!!!!!thx for the advise!

Abi Jacob
- Toronto, Canada


October 3, 2006

Used a face cloth and iron, and all of my husbands 'toast sweat' is now gone!

Melissa Peter
- Fredericton, NB Canada


October 11, 2006

Brilliant. A KFC bucket had created a few damp heat stains on a table in my parents' house. Using a medium-heat iron on a small cloth I discovered it all disappeared. Thank you to whoever first mentioned this! I'm saved from a lot of trouble from my parents!

Tim Caines
- Torquay, United Kingdom


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
- Oakland, California


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
- Mission, BC, Canada


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
- Providence, Rhode Island


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
Administration - Windsor, Ontario, Canada


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
fashion - Dallas, Texas


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
- Norwalk, Connecticut


February 2, 2007

I am one happy girl right now! who ever said about using an iron on a water mark 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
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania


February 10, 2007

I used the hot iron on the white water stain and Thanks guys, it worked a treat. keep up the good ideas

Ian Spencer
- Port Kennedy, Perth, Australia


February 11, 2007

How can I get white water stains lined with a brown ring from antique pine table tops?

Carole Fultz
retired housewife - Escondido, California


February 20, 2007

hooray,UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!

My friend found this website and emailed it to me after I ruined my friend's table with a hot coffee cup. We thought we were gonna have to have the whole thing sanded and refinished but in 2 minutes the table was like new again!!!!

It's really hard to believe! Where would we be without google!

Just a few additional remarks:

I think it's a good idea to make sure the steam is off.

Also, I think the cloth doesn't necessarily have to be white, especially if the furniture is not white. (for example, I used a brown t-shirt on my brown table, that way if you leave it on for too long, you'd get the same color lint at least :))

Also, make sure the surface is clean so that you don't iron the dirt in.

Good luck!

Deniz
- Brooklyn, New York


February 22, 2007

It totally works, hot water stain heat stained table used hot iron method and it took about 10 minutes.

Dustin Pause
- SF, CA, USA


March 17, 2007

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!

Thanks!

Josh Richardson
- Centreville, Virginia


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
- Clio, Michigan


April 14, 2007

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.

In any case, it's much better and I wanted to let folks know and say thank you for the wonderful tips!

Vandra Morgan
- Searcy, Arkansas


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
- Lydney, Glos, UK


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
consumer - Spring Hill, Florida


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
- York, Pennsylvania


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
consumer - Brooklyn, New York




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. 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
- Smyrna, Tennessee


June 7, 2007

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
- Helena, Montana


June 24, 2007

Going to kill husband! hi we just bought a fairly polished dining table and had to transport it 3 hrs. 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
CONSUMER - STANTHORPE QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA


June 30, 2007

A lot 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.
Also those white rings will come out the old way with any kind of ashes, mayo, and alot of rubbing.

Jennifer Beety
- Washington DC


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
- England


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.

I finally tried the iron method as suggested - a dry cloth and the iron set to medium level. Do not use steam.

I used for 10 minutes, wiping after each iron and it worked!

Thank you to this site for saving my favorite table!

M Viola
- Toronto, Ontario


July 23, 2007

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
- Sacramento, California


July 28, 2007

A word of warning.

My wife left a ice cream bowl on a coaster on the coffee table overnight. The humidity caused it to go right through the coaster. I dried the area with a paper towl when I discovered it this morning...oops mistake. I scratched the finish. Then I did the iron and used an old white t-shirt. The water spot came right out except for were I scratched the varnish. Don't try to rub the spot out, just use an iron (haven't had to try the blow dryer).

Jonathan Lefor
- Columbus, Ohio


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.
- Airdrie, Alberta, Canada


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 own new and very expensive table!

But, c'mon :-)     
-- we printed testimonials from twenty-six people who have have said the iron method worked on water marks and rings. How many more testimonials must we print before you feel we've given you enough to decide whether to try it or not? :-)

Sorry about your misfortune, and good luck whichever way you go! -- Cousin Ted


Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey


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
- DUNDEE, SCOTLAND, U.K.


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
hobbyist - Bethesda, Maryland


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
- Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada


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!
I followed up with lemon oil and it is 95% perfect.

Aurora Lee
- New York, New York


September 4, 2007

My daughter thought she would iron on my dining table with a towel under it.
Now I have this massive white smudge and white iron indents on my beautiful table
Please I'm desperate to get it off.

Juanita White
mother - nsw, Australia


September 30, 2007


After daughter placed KFC box on polished furniture, was horrified to find white cloudy stain this morning

Having used the hairdryer for only a fwe seconds the stain has gone. Just want to say great big thank You for this help. I was already to pay french polisher to do his stuff. SAVED!!!!

Wayne F
- Nottingham. United Kingdom


September 30, 2007

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
- flat rock, Michigan


November 11, 2007

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?

Thanks!

David O
- Arlington, Virginia


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