Removing water marks from fine furniture!

[Lovepancakes]

I'm a bit worried as a visiting child put a cup on a piano which isn't ours and its left a big mark.

I just tried mixing ash and mayonnaise and testing it on a less good piece of furniture with a similar Mark. It didn't work but I didn't read Google properly as it said to leave it overnight!

I'm wondering whether to buy a cloth from Lakeland that claims to work and has 4 out of 5 star reviews unless anyone thinks I can manage by a homemade method?!

Thanks so much for any tips

This is a popular thread in the meantime as you are all hanging in your seats I have applied a mixture of mayonnaise and ash again

I have advice but watching this thread as I have similar situation! Mines on a marble fireplace and will not come off.

My mayo mixture didn't work I'm afraid and don't know how to help marble.
It'll be so good to sort though! Sandpaper comes up as an option too but I don't dare experiment any more.

There's a way of setting light to a liquid (might be paraffin or white spirit or something) and it takes off the mark (white hazy water mark) but I think you need to apply thick wax afterwards. Might be best to get in touch with a furniture restorer instead tho!!

It's meths that French polishers use. A safer thing to try at home would be an iron over a folded cotton cloth. Put the iron on low enough that you can comfortably out your hand on the soleplate but there is heat (no steam). Place the folded cotton cloth (e.g. tea towel or pillowcase) over the mark and put the iron on top. Then just leave it - this can take several hours - keep checking the iron is not cold. It's never hot enough to cause damage and the cloth absorbs moisture drawn out by the heat. I've removed two huge heat marks from a table and various marks from a cabinet top by this method.

I eventually got rid of a bad water stain using Method furniture polish. I had to do it quite a few times, but over the course of a few weeks it went. Sorry, not much help if you need a quick fix. Good luck.

I haven't got a good feeling about setting fire to someone else's piano..

Thank you all so much. This is all excellent for possible ideas.
The mayo mix made the ring marks darker instead of lighter and really no good. I think I'll try the Method polish or lAkeland cloth next as don't want to regret my experiments . The iron idea is interesting and presumably best for fresh water marks

Try old fashioned brasso liquid and lightly polish the mark.

If anyone's got a pale, dried out watermark, the method I use (shown to me a bloke who restores furniture for a living) involves putting polish of a similar colour to the furniture onto very, very fine wire wool and working it gently into the stain/watermark. It works a treat and is very quick and easy.

I've used the iron on old marks of indeterminate age - an inherited table and an eBay purchase.

Meths burns briefly at a lower temperature than other accelerants so is less likely to cause damage, but I wouldn't try it on something I didn't own.

I did the same as lumela, very fine wire wool & briwax (you can get in various colours)rubbed in very gently & then buffed with a lint free cloth.
Worked on my oak dining table.

Thank you so much, lunela this sounds exactly what I need given he does it for a living! Amazing.

What wood is the piano made of? I would not use briwax and wool on my mahogany piano. Depending on the wood I would buy a beginners french polishing kit.

I wouldn't use Briwax - I got a more specialist wax and used the very finest wire wool (00 I think) - on Victorian mahogany. Looks great.

Many years ago I used a product bought at B and Q (also available on line these days) called Colon ring remover. I see nowadays it comes in mousse form (it was a liquid when I used it).
It was fairly effective on new water rings but less so on very old ones.
Costs less than a fiver so maybe worth a try?
Good luck with it.

I haven't been near the right shops yet but still following this with interest and really appreciate the info. Fine wire wool and the right wax or polish looks like what I need!

Lakeland do a product called 'ring remover'. It's superb. DH put a wet glass on a wooden unit overnight, and there was a massive white mark. This got rid of it in 5 minutes. You have to rub the cloth on the stain a bit but it leaves a lovely sheen afterwards.

www.lakeland.co.uk/23955/Guardsman-Water-Ring-Remover-Cloth

use a cloth with some of this liquid on the piano and that will remove any marks from it.

Incidentally, if you have old polished wood, do not use silicone-based polishes (e.g. Pledge) because that wrecks the patina. Just give it wipe with a polishy cloth once in a while, and then buff it up again.

I love old furniture. I should get out more.

I wouldn't use wire wool on my piano. I have got a lot of old furniture and did a french polishing course (just a couple of days) so that I could touch up my own furniture.

Polishers do use very fine wire wool but then spend plenty of time reapplying polish, or in today's world, applying a fine cellulose spray.

I would try liberon ring remover or ruskins ring remover if you don't want to go down the polishing route.

I started with the Lakeland cloth as it looked so safe but it made the piano mark darker . I'm now trying it on a very old water mark on a less good piece of furniture and it's making no obvious difference!

lumela I use a polishing cloth with small bit of bees wax?i like the smell!

I'm trying to attach a photo to show the now darkened mark- eek!

Let the mark dry. Roughen the old polish with very, very fine wirewool. It won't look rough to you, but it will give the new polish a key. Polish over with a polish to match the undamaged wood. Does that make sense?

If the mark is still dark in a few days, post again so I know. I'm seeing the antiques guy, probably next week, and I can ask what h'ed do for a dark mark rather than a pale one. He's a bloody genius.