Re: Wood Water Stain

Posted by geo in MI on August 02, 2001 at 20:55:53 from (209.156.148.80):

In Reply to: Wood Water Stain posted by Dreamweaver on August 02, 2001 at 15:52:44:

Turn the washstand upside down and look at the wood there. Furniture makers never finished the bottom surface, so you should get a good comparison of how the top wood should really look like if it truly unfinished--which I tend to doubt unless you or somebody in your family stripped it in year's past. If it really is stripped, then clean water(not Coke or Kool-Aid) can only create a stain by dissolving dirt or prior stain finish and driving it into the surface, at which point you will have to clean up the surface--and probably the entire surface at that.

A previous post mentioned some kind of crystals. Probably oxalic acid, which is sometimes used to bleach oak wood to a lighter color. Beware, though, this chemical is quite dangerous to use and you should follow the directions to the letter--goggles, heavy rubber gloves, and all the rest. Afterwards, the stuff recrystallizes, and sanding will cause these crystals to get into your nose and lungs and redissolve, thus bleaching out your respiritory system. My advice would be to use it only at your own risk.........

If the wood has the original finish, it probably is lacquer, which will generally turn white first when water gets on it. Gradually the lacquer will come off and you will have a pale spot there.
The other post about character is my opinion, too. I have my grandmother's old pie safe, which still has the dark rings from the half-gallon jars that she used to set on the top to let them cool after water bath canning. I just varnished over them, rather than trying to remove them.

Varnish, in today's hardware store is most often ureathane or alkyd varnish. Either are pretty tough, as compared to Deft, which is a lacquer based type of finish--won't stand up to moisture.

Hope this helps....

Follow Ups:

• Re: Re: Wood Water Stain ljjk 11:31:07 12/29/02 (0)
• Re: Re: Wood Water Stain Mike Taylor 20:32:21 08/03/01 (0)

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