How to Remove Water Rings from Wood

You walk into a room and notice a beautiful table. You notice all the ornate wood carving and wonder at the amount of time it must have taken someone to painstakingly carve it all. You sit down in front of it and your eyes are drawn to … a big, fat, white ring of dried water. The beauty is forgotten as you stare at the white ring and wonder why someone did not use a coaster? This article will show you how to remove those nasty white rings so that people can notice the table and not the ring.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 
   Avoid water rings by using coasters.

   The white rings on tables are caused when people lay a drink down on the table and the wetness from either condensation or a drink spill lays on the table for a long time without being wiped up. A simple way to avoid water rings is to place your drink on top of a coaster. It sounds easy but many people don’t even think of doing it and your wood suffers.

2. 
   Mayo is not good just on sandwiches!

   If you do have a water ring and want to remove it, pull out your mayonnaise jar! That’s right, mayonnaise! The oils that are in mayonnaise will soak into the wood and restore the water ring to the wood’s coloring.

3. 
   Cooking oil works great too!

   You can get the same effect as using mayonnaise to restore a water ring by using cooking oil. It will also soak into the wood to restore the color. Use of either mayonnaise or cooking oil is purely preference.

4. 
   Surprised?

   Finally, if mayonnaise and cooking don’t do the trick for you, there are other things you can try. Try mixing butter with ashes and spread them on the table. Or, you can put toothpaste on the table as well. I hope that this article helps you to clear up those nasty water rings and restore your table’s natural beauty.

Resources

• eHow Home and Garden Topic Guide