Expert: maura macaluso - 1/3/2008

Question
Hi there - 2 questions...My 18 mon old pulled a plug in scnet from the wall and laid it on my mahogony finished solid wood coffee table - fig oil spilled out and took out about 10 coats off the top.  is there a way I can repair on my own?  Also - paper plates are leaving white sweat marks on my dining table - how do I remove them???  Thanks in advance!

Answer
The whitish steam marks from the paper plates is fairly simple. First try heating the area with a blow dryer, slowly warming the area up.  If this doesn't help, try using a white towel or clean white T-shirt. lay it over the spot. Take your iron set it to medium heat and medium steam and use over the white cloth for a few seconds at a time, try this a few times before deciding if it works or not. As soon as the white stain disappears, rub the spot with a little oil and buff till it shines.   Next thing to try would be to mix cigarette ashes with either baby, linseed or mineral oil till you have a paste and then aggressively rub in direction of the grain. If none of this works, there are commercial products available which may work.  There is always the possibility that none of these cures will work but a furniture refinisher I know says the Iron/steam trick works most of the time.

As for the fig oil penetrating into your wood, I'm sorry but I believe the only way to remedy this is to sand and then refinish the mahogany.  If the oil has actually penetrated down into the layers of the wood, you will need to apply an oil based treatment after sanding.  you can use tung oil, orange oil, linseed oil or a good furnitue oil such as Murphys.  Apply until the appearance of the table top is pretty much uniform.  Allow it to dry for a few days and then apply polyurethane or varnish. Good Luck and thanks for the question.