Moisture marks on furniture

[Bill Dotte]

Just received a beatiful cherry end table, but top has water marks and some others.

Nedd info on removing to restore to original beauty.

Bill Carroll

[Jeff Gorman]

"Bill Dotte" wrote

: Just received a beatiful cherry end table, but top has water marks and some : others. : : Nedd info on removing to restore to original beauty.

In the 'Hints & Tips' section of my web site is some information that might be useful.

Jeff G

-- Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK Email address is username@ISP username is amgron ISP is clara.co.uk Website

[Mike G]

Don't know about the "some others" but if you are talking about the white blush rings one gets from setting down damp things on a finish you can get rid of them by putting some petroleum jelly or peanut butter over then marks and let it sit. Alcohol wipes also works but it can sometimes be iffy in regards to the finish, so you may want to try it on an unobtrusive location first if you do try it..

[dave martin]

I not questioning the claim that peanut butter or petroleum jelly might remove white water blush stains from furniture finishes but don't understand how they might function chemically.

I thought that such watermarks were the result of microscopic globs of water suspended in the finish & removing them involves "sucking the water out" by means of a dessicant (like alcohol or diatomaceous earth.)

How then would petroleum jelly or peanut butter work? Aren't they both already saturated with water?

[Uncle Al]

The white marks are probably air spaces remaining after water swells and debonds the coating. The oil/grease fills the holes with a medium more closely matching the refractive index of the coating, and the light scattering diminishes. Emeralds are "oiled" to lessen visible cracks. Frosted glass unfrosts with a bit of nose grease.

[Mike G]

Hi Dave

It's a fair question and I can understand why you would be skeptical.

The blush is caused by moisture infiltrating the finish. An oily substance displaces the moisture and thus, the blush.

I have used the petroleum jelly trick for some time and had heard about the use of peanut butter but was also skeptical about it's use.

What got me to try it (peanut butter) was a trivia question my wife found in a (I think it was) Readers Digest. The question was, "Why does peanut butter stick to the roof or your mouth?'. The answer was, "Because it draws the moisture from the roof of the mouth making it dry enough for the peanut butter to stick"

These aren't instant cures and it may take a day or two, but it does work.

Take care

[dave martin]

U Al & Mike, thanks for your responses. They both make sense. I'm sure I've read that the white bloom is due to water fog formation in the finish, but can see now that simply removing the water wouldn't suffice to remove the scattering source & might just make it worse because the index jump would increase.

Filling the voids with a low vapor pressure oil would destroy the index jump.

The peanut butter approach sounds good on both counts!