How Can I Fix This?

[rp2813]

A visitor placed a glass of ice water directly on my 1940 vintage Paul Frankl dining room table and these cloudy areas appeared a day or two later.  Needless to say, I'll be assuming the role of coaster nazi with him going forward.

 

I applied a thin layer of petroleum jelly a couple of hours ago but am not sure that's the right approach.  I have some Howards Restore-a-Finish if that's the better option.   Any advice would be appreciated.

 

With Dave in senior living since this past April, I decided to only use place mats since frequent spills would no longer be an issue, but I'm thinking maybe it would be best if I got out the table pads and put a cloth on again since my special friend is a little too A.D.D. to comply all the time.

 

 

[vacerator]

First try;

lemon oil furniture polish. Allow it to soak in well. It may lighten the stain enough. If not, go to look for a close shade of crayon type wax furniture touch up, or Minwax, Varathane, or other brand of wood stain and try color matching the table as best you can. It looks like a shade of ash or poplar wood. If the stain is lighter, let it soak in longer, then rub off. If darker, only apply a tiny amount, and rub off immediately.
Have you thought about applying a coat or two of satin clear polyurethane to protect it?

 

[ea56]

Ralph the white spots are probably caused by moisture getting into the coating of furniture wax on the surface of the wood. Try using a furniture polish that will remove the old wax coating, then reapply a new coat of oil, wax or polish.

I recall in the 50’s TV commercials for Johnson and Johnson Pride Furniture Polish touting its ability to remove white rings/spot just like this. If you ever used this product you’ll remember that it smelled like gasoline and was a kind of thin cloudy liquid, but it did in fact remove white spots like this. My Mom used to use Pride, and I do remember that it took off spots like this. It was probably due to the solvent in its formula. I’ve also read that using toothpaste on spots like this, gently rubbing the surface can remove the white discoloration. Whatever you use, try it on a small area first to see it it works and doesn’t cause any further damage. Auto polish might also work for this.

HTH,
Eddie

 

[sarahperdue]

Other options

Hi Ralph,

Petroleum jelly was a brilliant choice for first aid.

Lemon or furniture oil is an excellent start.

I would never use stain. Stain deposits solid pigments on the surface of the wood and has a muddy look. Most mid century and fine furniture is dyed. Once you know to search for dye, you can find a lot of information.

I agree with Eddie’s assessment of the moisture getting into the wax. A solvent based cleaner or polish is a good option.

Another option is to polish with extremely fine gauge steel wool and denatured or rubbing alcohol — just a little at a time and gently.

Finally, you might want to investigate Danish oil finishes. It looks like you’d need to do a bit of stripping before using Danish oil on this piece, but it is a wonderful, penetrating finish that is easy to touch up. It depends on how much you want to show off your beautiful table.

Sarah

 

[ozzie908]

Hmm

Back in the day of smokers we used a mix of cigar ash and linseed oil it removed the white mark completely! Now whether its worth buying a pack of cigars or not remains to be seen but if you know anyone who does smoke its worth giving it a go.

Austin

 

[rp2813]

Well, there are ashes from other smoking materials that could serve as a good substitute . . .

 

Thanks to all for your suggestions.  I took the within-easy-reach route first, and it proved successful.  A small bit of clove toothpaste from India, which is brown in color, made the white areas disappear quickly by rubbing it in a circular motion with a fingertip. 

 

I finished up with some polish and things are back to normal.

 

I appreciate the help!

 

[sudsmaster]

Another suggestion: get some insulated sippy cups for your ADD "special" friend.

LOL.

But more seriously... I'd second the suggestion to do a polyurethane varnish... doesn't need waxing and is fairly waterproof.

 

[mattl]

It's happened to me also, but on a darker wood pecan dining table. It gets waxed at least once a year - for many decades - with a Goddard's Cabinet Maker's Wax that contains beeswax. I used regular tooth paste on it and it disappeared.

Glad it all worked out well for you...

 

[vacerator]

Sarah, is stain not a

type of a dye as well? Some stains are water based, and get colors from the same pigments that fabric dyes do. Onion skins, and other vegetable derivatives.

 

[toploader55]

Coconut oil ?