French Oak Dining Table

[abecedarian]

My friend has a nice French Oak dining table; very light, very very tight grain. The table was not finished! Apparently the designer thought it would be cool to develop a “patina” over time.  But now it just looks like spills and stains.

I'd like to clean and finish it. But the spills look like oil, and I can’t tell how deep they’ve gone. How deep might they go? Can anyone tell? Is there a way to find out? What's the best way to bring it down to a clean look before finishing?

Thanks for any advice.

[jasfrank]

I'd wash it all down with something like murphys oil soap first, and then after dry if you have oil stains work on them with acetone, brake cleaner, or numerous other remedies. They'll come out. Nothing gets oilier than old gunstocks with the finish worn away. And they come clean after a bit of effort.

[jteneyck]

My friend has a nice French Oak dining table; very light, very very tight grain. The table was not finished! Apparently the designer thought it would be cool to develop a “patina” over time.  But now it just looks like spills and stains.

I'd like to clean and finish it. But the spills look like oil, and I can’t tell how deep they’ve gone. How deep might they go? Can anyone tell? Is there a way to find out? What's the best way to bring it down to a clean look before finishing?

Thanks for any advice.

French oak most likely means white oak, and that's a good thing because the pores are plugged making it harder for liquids to penetrate very far, unlike with red oak.  I, too, would start with MOS, but after that I would use mineral spirits or Naptha first to remove any remaining oil stains.  You can always move on to the harsher solvents later, if those don't work.  

John

[fredhargis]

Sometimes stains that look "oily" will disappear with a coat of finish on them. To check, simply wipe the piece down with MS and see what it looks like. The caution would be that even if they "disappear" it might be something that finish won't adhere to, but one problem at a time.