How to remove water stains / rings from wood furniture

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 Armor-all, 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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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.

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.

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 suggestions 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!

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:)

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!

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.

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

Having used the hairdryer for only a few 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!

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!