Re: Blopens on the dining room table

[Nan]

Despite the claim that Blopens are washable, I found out the hard way

>that while they do wash out of clothing and off of skin, they will >stain any wood they come in contact with. I now have a 12 inch stripe >of purple across my dining room table. Their website is very >unhelpful in telling you how to remove any stains. They just say to >use a "commercial stain remover". Has anyone found one that works? I >would assume that something that works on permanent markers would have >the same affect. I've tried everything in the house and have only >succeeded in removing the finish of the surrounding wood. I would >greatly appreciate any tips you have and so would my children because >right now, I'm so mad that I'm threatening to just throw the darn >things away. > >Thanks! > >~ Sher

Hi Sher, I don't have any advice, but I'm crossposting this to alt.home.cleaning. There are some helpful folk there that may help :-)

Nan

[Barbecue Bob]

[...] I've tried everything in the house and have only

I agree: throw those darn kids away!

As for the table, maybe a damp towel, left on the table an hour or so at a time, would absorb some of the stain.

[Henry W. Moritz]

Nah, that'll only screw up the finish on the table even more. Try the OrangeGlo.

[TOM KAN PA]

I give up. What's a blopen?

[Ame]

You *could* try Formby's Furiture cleaner (the green one).

But I say you're most likely looking at a fairly simple refinishing job. Sand the top only with a palm sander and try to sand most of the purple stain out. Then stain it the same color as the rest of the table, then three coats of polyurethane with sandings in between and then give the blo-pens to the children of someone you despise.

There's always tablecloths until you are ready to do this. It's really not that tough to do the tops only of tables... you don't have to match the finish exactly. Just closely. Go to a real paint store, though, to match the stain not Lowe's or Home Depot... take a table leaf with you, if you have any.

-Amy