Protecting a wooden table-top

[mistressploppy]

I bought a nice wooden (oak?) second hand table but it seems to be rather sensitive to marks - if you put anything wet on it it leaves a bleached-out mark. I don't know what kind of finish is on it (if any)

How can I protect it so it's at least vaguely toddler-proof? Or should I just give up and continue to use my wipe-clean table cloth?

sorry nothing to add except i read the title as :

how do i protect a wooden leg? :)

That's easy though - welly

We've got a pine table which I scrub every so often with soap and water and an old fashioned brush. It gets rid of child related marks and cleans it up a bit. I'm not sure if you could do this with oak though.

Having said that my oilcloth does also see a fair bit of use!

I have an untreated table (teak but the same applies to oak) and it's far easier to look after than varnished tables I've had. DC are 4 1/2 and 3. It's regularly subject to paint / felt pens / ground in playdoh / grease / spilled drinks / wine marks / coffee cup rings - you name it.

I just scurb it down with a strong solution of washing up liquid and bingo, it's as good as new again. Really stubborn marks get lightly sanded but that's almost never necessary. I oil it lightly very occasionally if it's looking dry and tired. That's it.

I agree with the others re cleaning, but if you want to build up a protective layer, use beeswax polish (Lord Sheratons is easy to work with) regularly and you will soon have a nice sheen on the surface that rejects marks more easily (although not completely!)

We use a table cloth for meals but just a fabric one. THe oilcloth says in the drawer - it's more of a faff to clean than the table!

I've got a second hand but (ridiculously) immaculate old teak table, there's not a mark on it. I'm always torn between protecting it from being destroyed by my 2 and 5 year old DCs and letting it live a little, so to speak.

For now I've covered it up with a protective rubbery thing (a bit like the stuff you use under mats to stop from slipping) - think I got it in Lidls - and a cheap wipeable tablecloth off eBay. It handles EVERYTHING, from being bashed with Duplo, stabbed with pencils and all manner of liquid.

I think I'll keep it on for a bit longer yet :o

Also try a bit of (clean) scrunched up white A4 paper - I have an untreated oak table from M&S and they had to send a man out to look at it as it was damaged on/before delivery. (They replaced - love M&S) - but the furniture/wood expert man said this was one of the best way to "refinish" it. Works a treat.

What, Fish - you rub it over with a scrunched up bit of paper?

Thanks all - think I might stick with the wipe-clean thingy a bit longer

Seriously - scrunched up paper - don't know if the same finish as your table but brings mine up a treat. Though with 4 & 6 YO I now have a plastic clothy thing for day to day protection... just to stop me yelling at them all the timm