Help! Worktop stained beyond redemption?

[gastrognome]

My husband cleaned his shoes with black shoe polish on our oiled wood worktop. The wood is now covered in bluish stains which I cannot remove. It seems to have penetrated into the grain of the wood.

I have tried the following:

• turps
• gentle detergent and water
• bicarbonate of soda paste
• toothpaste
• a dash of ammonia mixed with soapy water
• liquid black soap
• sanding very gently with sandpaper

So far absolutely nothing has made the slightest difference. I am gutted as the worktop is ruined. Is there anything else I could try that might help?

Thanks

PS I know oiled wood workshops are not stainproof, but I am stuck with them for now.

I would try a magic eraser and if that fails then WD-40, and if that fails then I guess Swarfega.

And he lived to tell the tale???

Certainly not beyond salvation. I'd tell the idiot that made the mess to use warm water and fairy liquid to get off the worst. Then follow up with a dilute solution of ammonia (ask at your local chemist). But if that failed, you could sand a decent bit off the surface (wiping down with ammonia frequently so you dont work blue dust into the new surface!) then re-oil... I'm sure it won't have penetrated very deeply into the wood.

Oh pants, I see you've already tried the ammonia. Yup, I think I'd forget the softly-softly approach and take a belt-sander to it!

Thanks. I have up until now remained very calm, while quietly seething underneath.

I'll try the ammonia and sanding combination and see whether it works together.

How about a bit of bleach? Try a tiny bit on it, and see if it helps - I sort-of think light patches would be better than shoe polish stains. I used to use bleach on the mould stains that turned up round our sink (due to the fact that I was the only person who bothered about keeping that part dry), and it lightened the wood, but it looked better than the black mould.

I do feel your pain - ds1 put a red-hot pan down on the oiled wood worktop at our last house, and left two beautiful burns on it.

Sand more?

sand the counters back completely and then use a decent finish like osmo polyx hard wax oil.

our oak counters are pristine, even round the sink, and we are not careful. I put pans direct from the hob on them and we're not precious about wiping up water straight away.

we previously used linseed and Danish oil - both very difficult to keep looking good.

Thanks. I will see if I can get hold of the finish you mention. I think the finish is part of the problem - we have tried various oils and as you say it's been hard work to protect these worktops.

Thanks. I will see if I can get hold of the finish you mention. I think the finish is part of the problem - we have tried various oils and as you say it's been hard work to protect these worktops.

Get in touch with a French Polisher who will give you advice or estimate the cost of repair'

Osmo liquid wax cleaner will fix it.

"Especially effective for the removal of shoe marks, ink and other stubborn stains"

I have used it on the workshop to remove pen marks.