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Removing black water marks from furniture

I've refinished a few pieces of furniture and am currently working on an old desk. After stripping two coats of paint and some stain, I realized why they had painted such a beautiful desk. There is a dark water circle and what appears to be dark marks from water spray or splatter. Will your iron trick (letter 10275) work on the dark stains as well, or is this method just used for white or cloudy water marks on top of the finish?

Karen Monteith
Hobbyist - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
June 9, 2011

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Hi, Karen.

I am not a furniture refinisher, just the website administrator who reads all the entries. But from doing so, I believe that the white stains are in the finish, whereas the black stain you speak about is staining of the wood. I think oxalic acid /wood bleach [affil links] is the way to remove black stains from the wood.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
June 9, 2011

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Desks are one of those things that are subjected to a lot of acidic stains like tea, coffee and also oils. A lot of times leather dyes and such have a habit of finding their way there too. In some instances heavy sanding or having them surface planed is the only option especially if the area is bruised. It is possible to drive a lot of oil, acid and leather stains out by soaking in acetone [on eBay or Amazon] or lacquer thinner [on eBay or Amazon]. Wipe the area repeatedly with these products and paper towels until it no longer draws the color out. You can also soak bad spots with either and then apply a 1/4 inch layer of solvent mixed with all purpose flour. The solvent will slowly evaporate and leach the oils and dyes into the flour which can be brushed off when dry. Another trick is to apply solvents and hit the area with an air compressor [adv: air compressors on eBay or Amazon] blast. 100 to 120 PSI is best. It will drive the oils out or drive them deeper out of site or blend them in. Do all of these tricks out of doors and wear rubber gloves to protect your hands. Solvents are very flammable and are poisonous in the long term so you don't want to be inhaling the fumes. You have to be very careful when bleaching as lighter colored areas around the stain bleach at the same rate as the stained area. I have seen some old desk tops that were so bad they had to be resurfaced or veneered which does take away from the collectability of the piece.

Rod Henrickson
gunsmith - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
June 11, 2011