Stains in unfinished wood

[Scott Jashinski]

Posted this in the finish forum with no luck so I wanted to try here as well

Long story but I am trying to restore an old B.L. Marble Chair company chair for my wife. It has been outside and has water stains on the bare wood. A quick google search has several methods for trying to remove the stains (salt paste, baking soda paste, etc.). They are not very dark but I cannot sand them out so I am really just trying to make them lighter. Not sure, but I think the wood is Maple (ironic I know) or could be beech so I will probably dye not stain.

Anyone had success or failure with any of the stain removal methods?

[Robert Wilson]

wet the  unfinished wood  with a wet rag, this will make the rings good away. I did this to some bar stools one time and it worked out real well.

[goaliedad]

Oxialic acid. Aka wood bleach. I have had good luck with it

[Paul K. Murphy]

It sounds like you've got an antique "in the white", i.e. bare wood. It's always a good idea to clean something like that with TSP and a stiff brush. After you've washed it, you can do some of the things other users have suggested.

[collins45]

I head too about wood bleach! It might worth giving a try.

[gMike]

I'd give wood bleach a try.  We use it to remove soda stains from wood and it works very well.  You may need to do it a time or two but it is easy to use and doesn't seem to affect the original color of the wood all that much.  Amazon sells it.

[Hank Knight]

Oxalic acid is the basic bleach for removing stains in wood. It's relatively benign and safe to use. If oxalic acid doesn't work, lye and hydrogen peroxide is very strong and will bleach the stains AND the wood. Here's a link for using oxalic acid.

https://www.realmilkpaint.com/shop/strip...od-bleach/

[Steve N]

Much less $$$ than the above link is "Bar Keepers Friend". If married you might ask your partner if there isn't some under the kitchen sink. It removes all manner of stain around a household, or shop. It is Oxalic acid. You can source it at any grocery in the cleaning products. Another one, but sometimes not so easy to find is ZUD, also a cleaner, and it's ox acid is a higher %. I've always found the B K F to be plenty strong enough though. Outside of raising the grain, as any wetting of wood will do I've never noted a problem with dulling, dyeing, or changing the color of the wood, but I haven't used it on every wood, so try any of these on a hidden portion before proceeding.

[Scott Jashinski]

Much less $$$ than the above link is "Bar Keepers Friend". If married you might ask your partner if there isn't some under the kitchen sink. It removes all manner of stain around a household, or shop. It is Oxalic acid. You can source it at any grocery in the cleaning products. Another one, but sometimes not so easy to find is ZUD, also a cleaner, and it's ox acid is a higher %. I've always found the B K F to be plenty strong enough though. Outside of raising the grain, as any wetting of wood will do I've never noted a problem with dulling, dyeing, or changing the color of the wood, but I haven't used it on every wood, so try any  of these on a hidden portion before proceeding.

I have used "Bar Keepers Friend" since I was a bar tender 20+years back. Never looked at the label. Need to give it a try.

[AHill]

You can also find Bar Keepers Friend at Home Depot or Lowes in the cleaning section.  It's the best thing ever to clean stains off cultured marble as well.  Doesn't scratch the surface and leaves things nice and white.  Cleans off rust, makeup, toothpaste, hair color dye, and just about any other thing I've encountered that finds its way onto countertops.