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Q&As since 1989


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Water stain on mahogany

I bought an old stripped mahogany table and applied a natural stain. A large white water stain appeared which hadn't been noticeable on the bare wood. Is there any way of removing this water stain?

Rose Scott
- Canada
2003

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2003

It's been awhile since I've messed with restoring antique furniture, but I usually ran into that from moisture accumulation under a potted plant or the like.

In those cases, after stripping, ordinary household bleach [adv: bleach/sodium hypochlorite in bulk on eBay or Amazon] will bleach out the stain, but you have to carry it out across the entire piece and restain to get the color back.

Of course, the wetness of the bleach will raise cellulose "hairs" in the wood, and you'll need to gently buzz those down.

Greybeard

Lynn M. Perry, Sr.
retired - Plano, Texas