# Remove Soap Stains from Unfinished Wood



## chicubs1908 (Nov 6, 2012)

Wasn't sure what section to put this in, so I am throwing it in this forum since it sort of has to do with finishing....

Anyway, I have a nice unfinished wood coffee table...While I was away, a friend spilled stuff on the coffee table. They used a soap sponge to clean it up and now I have three hazy blush spots on the unfinished table. They have lightened the dark brown look of the table. It's quite unfortunate.

Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations to get rid of/lessen these light spots?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

What wood is the table? If it were me I would try rinsing the entire table with a power washer set at a pressure below 1500psi. This will clean the soap off and give you an idea of what would happen if you stained it. If the wood color isn't uniform wet it won't stain uniform either so you may need to bleach the table while you have it wet. Once washed and dried the table will just need a little fine sanding to restore the wood from having the grain raised by the water. Then the table can be stained and finished like nothing happened.


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## chicubs1908 (Nov 6, 2012)

Steve Neul said:


> What wood is the table? If it were me I would try rinsing the entire table with a power washer set at a pressure below 1500psi. This will clean the soap off and give you an idea of what would happen if you stained it. If the wood color isn't uniform wet it won't stain uniform either so you may need to bleach the table while you have it wet. Once washed and dried the table will just need a little fine sanding to restore the wood from having the grain raised by the water. Then the table can be stained and finished like nothing happened.


I guess it actually does have a finish. From the website:

"Natural saal wood top with oil finish; iron frame and legs"

Maybe they scrubbed off the finish then? Any idea on how to get it back to original finish (or close to)?

West Elm Industrial Table


Yes, I know West Elm isn't the greatest quality, but I just got out of college, so I'm hoping to make this last a little while.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Some soaps are pretty aggressive. My wife let some liquid laundry detergent run down the front of a old cabinet that had a lacquer finish on it. Before she could wipe it off the soap took the finish and stain off the wood.

Since your table has soap on it, it might work best to use the same soap pad over the entire wood surface of the table and then rinse it off. The important thing is to bring the table to a uniform condition. Then you can restore the finish. Having a light or dark spot on a piece of furniture is always a pain to deal with. After you clean the top and it dries you could just sand it with a random orbital sander with 180x paper on it and then re-oil it with a Watco Danish Oil finish. If you don't have a electric sander you could sand it by hand rubbing it with the grain. From the picture I'm guessing it's the pecan color of the Watco finish. The Watco will stain and finish the table. If you want something more durable that will hold up to putting a wet glass on it then use a oil based stain and topcoat it with a oil based polyurethane. With that style probably a satin polyurethane would be a better choice.


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## chicubs1908 (Nov 6, 2012)

Thank you Steve very much for your quick and informative answers.

So, you wouldn't recommend doing any sort of spot-treatment? (Yes, looking for easier way out).

If not, I guess I have a nice little weekend project down the road.


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## HowardAcheson (Nov 25, 2011)

"Saal" wood is a recycled wood of varied species. In the case of your item, it is probably recycled railroad ties. If this is a Pottery Barn item, the "oil" finish applied appeared to be a sort of oil/varnish or Danish oil finish when I looked at it. It did not appear to be a finish that would stand up to much abuse.


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## chicubs1908 (Nov 6, 2012)

HowardAcheson said:


> "Saal" wood is a recycled wood of varied species. In the case of your item, it is probably recycled railroad ties. If this is a Pottery Barn item, the "oil" finish applied appeared to be a sort of oil/varnish or Danish oil finish when I looked at it. It did not appear to be a finish that would stand up to much abuse.


Ya, it's a West Elm/Pottery Barn item. It definitely doesn't stand up to any abuse. It's been ridiculous. That's how my friend messed it up - from panicing about how it messed up the finish before.


So, you guys would suggest looking for Watco Danish Oil - Pecan? Don't see that stuff available anywhere in that particular colorway.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

chicubs1908 said:


> Ya, it's a West Elm/Pottery Barn item. It definitely doesn't stand up to any abuse. It's been ridiculous. That's how my friend messed it up - from panicing about how it messed up the finish before.
> 
> 
> So, you guys would suggest looking for Watco Danish Oil - Pecan? Don't see that stuff available anywhere in that particular colorway.


 I think probably the Watco Danish Oil finish is as close to the original finish as you can get. I wouldn't attempt to spot treat the table. It can be done but it's about ten times more work tinkering with the color to blend it it. It's so much easier to remove the original finish and start over. 

I guess I gave you a bum steer about the Pecan color. It appears Watco doesn't make that color anymore. Here is a current chart. From what I can see in the picture perhaps cherry is the closest.

If you don't mind a chemical coating on the table you can always put an oil based polyurethane over the top of the watco or oil stain. Then someone could spill something on the table and you could just wipe it up without taking the finish off. If you used a satin sheen it wouldn't alter the appearance of the table very much.


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## chicubs1908 (Nov 6, 2012)

Steve, I will have to make a weekend project of this sometime soon.

Below is the picture. Turned on the flash which makes it look worse but you get the picture:


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

The spot looks like a water ring to me. Any oil finish is going to get these marks. The furniture companies really should make available info on which product they used so you can re-oil them from time to time. 

I had another thought you might try before refinishing the table. You might try wiping the table down with Old English Scratch Cover for dark wood. If anything can fix the table this would. It's available at walmart or most grocery stores. If it doesn't work it can be rinsed off with lacquer thinner.

If it's very cold where you are you may wish to wait until spring to refinish the table top if you wish to put polyurethane on it. In cold weather it doesn't work well.


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## chicubs1908 (Nov 6, 2012)

Steve Neul said:


> The spot looks like a water ring to me. Any oil finish is going to get these marks. The furniture companies really should make available info on which product they used so you can re-oil them from time to time.
> 
> I had another thought you might try before refinishing the table. You might try wiping the table down with Old English Scratch Cover for dark wood. If anything can fix the table this would. It's available at walmart or most grocery stores. If it doesn't work it can be rinsed off with lacquer thinner.
> 
> If it's very cold where you are you may wish to wait until spring to refinish the table top if you wish to put polyurethane on it. In cold weather it doesn't work well.


Ya, I don't get what they can't just tell me what oil finish they used. I did get a little more info this morning out of their online support person...but still nothing really worthwhile.

"Thank you for your patience, what I would recommend that you may want to visit a hardware store and keep with them what they would recommend for your table. Since there are quite a number of oils available for furniture they could recommend the best one to use. Other I'm am told also use mineral oil to protect the wood."

I am going to try the Old English Scratch Cover today and I'll let you know how it works.

And ya, it's already cold here, so I would have to wait until the spring.


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