Photo: Patrick Q / Flickr

Moisture can wreak havoc with wooden furniture, leaving undesirable milky-grey finishes, white rings or black marks. A milky-grey looking finish comes about when moisture penetrates the finish. If the water goes beyond the finish and into the wood, it can cause awful black marks. Black marks are removable but sometimes they resist all treatment. White rings from wet mugs or glasses are easy to remove. Read on for some treatment options for white rings and black marks.

How to remove white rings from wooden furniture

White rings on wood can be caused by pot plants or wet crockery. Fortunately these rings don’t go beyond the furniture’s finish, which makes them easy enough to remove. Here are a few remedies that should have your white ring disappear within five minutes. Be sure to test your chosen option on a hidden area before you apply it to the white ring.

The first method involves applying a good furniture wax onto a soft cloth and then rubbing the ring with vigour. Otherwise try applying a mixture of equal parts toothpaste and baking soda to a damp cloth. Rub the area gently. Another trick is to apply denatured alcohol to some steel wool but this would require a very gentle rubbing technique.

How to remove black marks from wooden furniture

If left to penetrate through the finish and into the wood, water can cause very resilient black marks. Some are removable while others can only be made to look a little better. Unfortunately some black marks are permanent and almost impossible to remove without causing considerable damage to the wood.

In order to treat a black mark, you will have to lightly sand the damaged surface so as to get down to the bare wood. Once the pores of the wood are open, you can apply bleach to the area. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to find out how to work with the bleach in question.

If you can’t get all the black marks out of the wood, try to see the remaining marks in a positive light. They show the history of the piece. Refinish the bleached area to match the furniture’s original finish.

Tags: furniture