Wood stained by stick-on protectors

[Friend]

Hi -

I don't know how to describe those peel-off, stick-on cloth-like protectors that you cut & fit to the base of lamps, vases, etc. to avoid scratching the surface on which they are placed.

I must be a slow learner! I have sustained serious staining damage to (a) wood floor from file cabinets (b) TWO table tops, from this stuff.

The stains are so bad, I can' get them out with anything I've tried: several brands of wood cleaners - even bleach. (the bleach ruined adjacent wood; didn't removed the stain.) Not even Jasco got it out. Nor did steel or bronze wool or even light hand sanding.

Question: Is this stain removable, period?

Or do I have to have the surface refinished?

If so, how deep would the refinisher have to go to get stain out?

Thanks for any input.

Amiga

[Don Phillipson]

Consult a woodworker or vendors of speciality timber or cabinet-making tools. Your main problem is that stains penetrate under the top surface of finished wood, thus usually requiring sanding to remove the whole top surface, then refinishing all (smoothing, sealing, coating etc.) Finishing methods vary, e.g. a wood floor coating needs to be much harder than the finish on a table top.

Stick-on protectors for wood should be stuck to the objects (e.g. filing cabinets) and not to the wood.

[aemeijers]

Even if you stick them to the object, sometimes they leak, especially if the plastic/rubber or felt breaks down and/or ever gets wet. BTDT. For heavy stuff like file cabinets, I prefer to use carefully cut squares of wood or hard plastic, whatever is laying around. Same with computer cases, back when desktop machines weighed 50 pounds. The damn cheap factory feet always fused into the wood, and pulled off the case when you went to move it. Critical to make sure no grit is between the item and the wood finish, and never slide stuff.

As to how to fix the damage- I'm no woodworker, but have had decent luck with Minwax gel stain, rubbed hard into the damaged spot. It often disguises it well enough to get by. If it was a sun-faded desktop, I'd rub it into the whole top and hand-buff it. Of course, almost all my furniture is old when I get it, so my standards may be loose.

-- aem sends....

[Friend]

OF COURSE I stuck the felt protectors to the objects, not the wood!!!

Why the color leaked out onto the wood objects, I do not know. Though I am a slow learner I have now resolved to used only glass or good quality plastic "dots" to separate object from wood, especially not the colored felt found on the backs of tiles.

Also, in a thrift shop, I found neat-o glass "saucers" w/little legs

-- obviously meant, inter alia, for things like planters.

I'm not handy enough to attempt sanding the large coffee table. The stain is only a very small area, in the shape of the glass bricks that support large books. ( I must have lined the bricks with that infamous green felt so they wouldn't scratch the wood!} But I gather that it wouldn't be safe to sand just the small area.

Of course the table, which I commissioned 'n' years ago, has sustained various other insults over time, so it might be worth getting a quote on professional sanding the whole thing -- if they can guarantee removing the stains. Now to count my pennies!

Thanks for all for help.