Q: I made a cherry rocking chair for a client about 4 years ago. It has a Danish Oil finish. He recently called and told me that his wife had the chair setting next to her ironing board and now has water spots on the chair. He asked what to do to fix the water spots. I was thinking of telling him to go over the surface with 0000 steel wool and reapply Danish Oil to the surface. Would this be good advice, or is there a better way to save his chair?
A: It really depends on just how bad the water damage is, and more pointedly, what color the spots are. Black spots are in the wood, and reapplying finish will not remove them. To remove black spots, you almost always must remove the finish, then wash the sanded wood with oxalic acid. If you are lucky, that will remove the black stains and you can refinishing.
White water spots are typically on the surface or in the finish, and reapplication of Danish oil would, in many cases, solve that problem. Personally, I would use fine Scotchbrite® instead of steel wool, for a variety of reasons I’ve talked about previously. I apply wax with steel wool, but applying finish with it can create problems.
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