Gransnet forums

House and home

Help! How to deal white spots on oak furniture

(11 Posts)
mantaray Thu 30-Mar-23 12:27:48

Hi Everyone
I have an oak pre-treated coffee table. It has developed white (fade?) spots which I have no idea how to deal with. When we bought it the instructions were not to use polish on it, but just to wipe it over with a smooth cloth. We have had the occasional small spill, which has been wiped right away, but the patches are much bigger and more widespread than those. They could be sunlight, but surely the pre- treatment should have taken care of those. Has anyone else had to deal with this problem? I welcome any suggestion.

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 30-Mar-23 12:35:18

I don’t know what pre-treatment you are talking about, but wood will fade in sunlight, whether polished, varnished, waxed or untreated. You probably need to get a furniture restorer to deal with it but do move it out of the sunlight!

Nell8 Thu 30-Mar-23 12:49:53

I've had this problem with several light oak table tops. I used a Guardsman Ring and Mark Remover cloth which solved the problem. It took perseverance with rubbing for the marks to go. The cloth left a slight shine on the wood, but it was a definite improvement. The instructions say it's not suitable for unsealed and oil-finished woods.
I once tried rubbing mayonnaise on a white spot and that worked too. I must have found that tip on Google. It's probably best to experiment on a small area first!

AreWeThereYet Thu 30-Mar-23 13:16:30

If it's white spots from liquid spills mayonnaise will probably get it out - just rub a bit of mayo in, cover and leave for a few hours and rub off. The oil in the mayo displaces the water. I did this on an old cupboard and it worked. But it depends on what the white rings are.

karmalady Thu 30-Mar-23 15:06:06

fine wire wool, methylated spirit and rubbing along the grain, this will remove the surface coating. Lightly sand again along the grain to remove any surface debris. Wipe with a damp cloth. Then coat very finely via several coats of a good coloured danish oil in the appropriate colour, lighter is better to start with. Rub down in between each coat. You can finish/topcoat with briwax. Each coat needs to be thoroughly dry and applied very sparingly and wiped with a lint free cloth

maytime2 Fri 31-Mar-23 10:30:40

Use a brazil or walnut kernal. Just rub gently and the mark will go. I used a brazil nut to get rid of a water stain on my teak coffee table.

gokeez Mon 24-Apr-23 12:10:17

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

ExDancer Mon 24-Apr-23 12:17:08

I've also used the walnut method with good results, but it must be a fresh walnut - not one of those dried up things we get for cooking. I think its the oil that does the job.

stephenleon Fri 23-Feb-24 07:19:08

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

stephenleon Fri 23-Feb-24 07:20:25

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Georgesgran Fri 23-Feb-24 07:59:23

I’ve reported this, as the link is to an American company’s products.