An acquaintance was feeling really bad.  She had been at a friend’s house drinking wine with a small group of people.  At some point she placed her glass of white wine down on a wooden table, leaving a ring where the glass stood. She was sure that some of the wine must have gotten on the bottom of the glass and stained the table.

“I feel terrible for ruining it,” she told us. “Is there any way I can clean it or anything I can buy that will fix it?  The wood is dark, like maybe cherry or something like that.”

This acquaintance and her friend, whose table she seems to have marred, tried using water on the stain and rubbing it, but the spot where the glass stood was still quite visible.

Frankly, this is a tough one to deal with, but all is not be lost!  For starters, the mark on the table is probably from water condensation, not wine.  So it should be dealt with as if it was just water.  In any case, white wine probably would do little or no damage beyond what mere water will.

Here are some possibilities for treating a water mark on wood furniture. For a power attack on the stain, you can try them in combination.

One: Dry the wood if the water stain is a fresh one.  Blot up all of the water that you can with an absorbent towel.  Then, place a paper towel over the stain for two or three hours to absorb extra moisture from the wood.  Of course, this will only be effective if the water stain is caught right away.

Two: Take some mayonnaise (yes, you read that right) and put a generous glob onto the stain.  Rub the mayonnaise in with a paper towel.  Allow the mayonnaise to remain on the stain  overnight. In the morning, wipe off most of the excess mayonnaise, but leaving a little bit that you can then rub into the wood with a paper towel. You might be pleasantly surprised to find that the water stain is gone!

Three: This method is for highly finished wood. Mix baking soda and non-gel white toothpaste, in equal amounts. to make a paste.  Put the mixture on a clean, white cloth.  Apply it to the stain in a circular motion to gently buff out the stain.  Wipe remaining paste off the wood. Follow this by applying furniture polish to the area that was stained.

Four. This is often the quickest way to get a water stain out of wood.  Just place a lint-free cloth over the stain, then carefully put a hot iron on top of the cloth for just a few seconds. Remove the iron and check on the stain.  If it’s still there, repeat these actions.  Keep repeating until the stain has been completely lifted from the furniture piece.