Apartment Therapy New York | How To... Remove Water Stains From Wood

How To... Remove Water Stains From Wood

05.22.rings.jpg Get white water rings off without using oil, chemical, or polishing products. We've heard from AT reader dollhouse that you can do this using a cotton cloth and a dry iron.

Place a cotton cloth directly over the stain and with a dry iron (NO STEAM!) press down for several seconds on the cloth. Remove and check the stain. Keep doing until the watermarks are completely gone. It could take a minute or two to get the stain out completely.

Dollhouse says, I did this technique on my husband's great, great grandfather's dining room table and removed some pretty big and deep white watermarks.

This has us feeling hopeful about our fireplace mantle, which looks like it's been through too many cocktail parties without any protection. (thanks, dollhouse!)

Comments (10)

Yeah, well, just be careful with the veneered furniture, will ya?

posted by Justin (the first one) on May 22nd 2007 at 8:01am
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What I have always done is just use toothpaste. Get Paste toothpaste - gel won't work - and cover the watermark with it. Leave for awhile, maybe a few hours, and wipe clean. I usually leave it 2 or 3 hours; it has always worked.

posted by Kyrdissa on May 22nd 2007 at 8:44am
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you'll think im crazy, but this works 100%...

put a tablespoon of mayonnaise in a dish or glass. smoke a cigarette and ash into the mayonnaise. mix the ash and mayo together. with a clean cloth, massage the paste onto the water spot. if its very bad, spread a layer of the paste over the spot and let it sit for several hours. wipe the area clean and you'll never see the spot again!

i swear by old Southern tricks...

posted by my little apartment on May 22nd 2007 at 9:01am
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goodnightdean...you might still be crazy, but I've heard of that one too--thanks for the reminder!

posted by kate on May 22nd 2007 at 10:52am
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What is the heat setting on the iron?

posted by KD on May 22nd 2007 at 12:55pm
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Goodnightdean is right. Many antique restoration shops use that technique. If it especially bad a lot of hard rubbing on the spot while heating with a blow dryer should fix it. Bye the way if you don't smoke you can use wood ash.

posted by erinorea on May 22nd 2007 at 1:16pm
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that is such a crazy trick. i wonder whats the chemistry behind it!

posted by olya on May 22nd 2007 at 8:07pm
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told to me a very, very, very, very long time ago.
rape a slave on a Doily and it will not impregnate the would.

posted by ion/?/ on May 23rd 2007 at 7:56pm
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Can someone please delete ion's comment. It is grossly offensive. What are you, 12 years old? What a jerk!

posted by Tom23 on February 24th 2008 at 7:55am
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Check out my blog on removing water stains:
http://raidz.net/blog/how-remove-white-rings-and-water-spots-your-furniture

posted by raidz on November 22nd 2008 at 1:15am
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