Nailpolish remover spilt on wooden table

geek1981

Wife has just spilled nail polish remover onto our wooden dining room table. It's one of this.

As you would expect it has stripped the laquer off the table and removed a patch of the colour. Attached an image of the patch.

Any ideas how I could fix this?

cheers!

macman

You'll need to strip it all back and refinish. Or the wife will.
Fairly inevitable incident methinks.

warmhands.coldheart

geek1981 wrote: »

.....Any ideas how I could fix this?.....

Get a new wife !!

iammumtoone

Ouch I suggest buying table mats and keeping them displayed on table covering the patch.

ValHaller

Strip off the whole table top with nail polish remover and refinish is about the only route likely to provide an acceptable outcome.

PasturesNew

geek1981 wrote: »

Any ideas how I could fix this?

Divorce, then marry somebody who doesn't wear nail varnish.

PasturesNew

geek1981 wrote: »

Wife has just spilled nail polish remover onto our wooden dining room table. It's one of this.

As you would expect it has stripped the laquer off the table and removed a patch of the colour. Attached an image of the patch.

Any ideas how I could fix this?

cheers!

For a serious answer.... I'd get this thread moved to the Old Style board. Might be some magic mix of teabags or something that could be tried.

DaftyDuck

Aside form the wife-swap suggestions (and you can't have mine!), the problem seems to be that, aside from damaging the surface finish, it has also dissolved the stain that the wood has been treated in. The frantic rubbing (100% understandable) has spread the dye over a wider area, and probably done more damage.

A professional French Polisher would be able to remove the remaining stain (and damage finish), reapply matching stain, and repolish the surface - and it would be unnoticeable .... but might cost anywhere between £40 and £150 to do. Not very MSE, but the "best" finish!

For a DIY approach... I'm an amateur, but have "repaired " several non-valuable antique bits...

Use the underside of the table as a test area. If it, too, is stained, remove stain (and polish if there) with nailvarnish remover in similar small areas. Let dry. Use a very slightly damp cloth (so slightly damp it is just humid... touch one dry cloth against a slightly damp one to get this... rub the area gently to lift the grain and remove loose dye and polish. Switch to a completely dry cloth and rub lightly to smooth grain again. Add a dye (see below), at very low strength with a cotton bud, stroking with the grain.... rub it dry almost immediately it is applied, again to smooth the grain (you don't want dark bits where the wood is more absorbent) ... let it dry completely, and then rub with a dry cloth... repeat dye application until you have the right shade. It should be very slightly lighter than the surrounding finished area, as the polish will slightly darken the effect... The dye may also darken with time - a day or so - so if you are managing to do a good enough job, apply each dye coat a day or so apart.
To reapply the wax finish, use a good solid beeswax polish. Apply several thin coats, rub lightly into the grain, wait 3 minutes, breathe on it to help it shine, then rub gently along the grain with the first, across with the second, along with the third, and so on. You can "cheat" and use one of the wax polishes like Briwax that has a hardener in it - it gives a faster finish - but these aren't as good at creating a match.... That's assuming from the look it is a wax finish?

All that under the table surface as a practice... once you patch those to match, repeat on the upper side...

For dyes, tea is a good one, and you can vary the strength accordingly... Walnut shells can be left in water, and these make a darker colour... I'm not sure you'll need darker than that.... You can, of course, buy stain, but it's just as difficult to find a match.

VoucherMan

First thing that came to mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKb3J9mctlo