Decorating Help - Have I ruined the wood??

[purplebutterflybiscuits]

We have a new wooden staircase and I had planned to just put some clear varnish on it. After consulting youtube for advice, I wiped the wooden bannister with white spirit first to clean it.

I went back to see if it was dry a little while later and to my horror it has now gone very yellow!

I wondered if anyone knows how I can fix this??

Thanks

Pbb

odd...never had this with mine.....any tips on youtube..??

Couldn't find anything helpful. At first I thought it must have been incorrect advi e, but now I am wondering if there was something wrong with the white spirit. Does it go out of date?

Probably wasn't the best idea to use the old half used bottle from the back of the shed! Come to think of it, that bottle might have been in the shed when we moved in, so I suppose it could potentially be anything in a white spirit bottle!

Feeling like a right idiot now, any ideas to get rid of the yellow wood welcome.

I might try light sanding in an inconspicuous area to see if that lifts it?

Also, I might try a small amount of vanish on the yellow wood to see if the end result was something I could live with. Again, in a hidden area but this can be sanded off again afterwards.

Thanks, I will give sanding a try. Not so sure about just varnishing as it is as I only cleaned the hand rail, the spindles are still the proper colour!

Ooh, that is yellow!
have you tried just washing it with sugar soap or similar? I’ve not seen that happen before, maybe the white spirit was tainted?
good luck with it, it’s soul destroying when things like that happen

Oh dear I think the white spirit might have been used to clean something yellow too.

Could you buy some new white spirit and wipe it over. Maybe a few times.

The white spirit you used, it is perfectly clear isn’t it? If it’s been tainted with yellow paint, it will be erm…yellow. Stating the bleeding obvious here.

Thats really bizarre. Can only think it’s some sort of residue that’s on the pine, reacting with the white spirit. If it won’t shift with sugar soap I’d try lightly sanding it.

Googling tells me that when pine is exposed to sunlight it can get a yellow tinge.

I think you may have stripped some of the oils / resin which are in the wood by using white spirt on it. Alternatively, there may have been a treatment on the wood which has been stripped off. If it is the first,, it may just correct itself over time.

If you were intending to use varnish directly onto raw wood , you shouldn’t need to do anything except make sure that it is dust free by using a non shedding cloth like an old tea towel. If it doesn’t revert, perhaps use a tinted varnish to even it up, or polish the handrail which should darken it.

Oh no that's really yellow! Does a light sand get rid of it? Do you know if the wood was treated with anything when you bought it?
You could try;
1)sanding, I think this is your best bet.
2) a wood bleach such as the one made by liberon. Test it somewhere first as it might make the pine look awful. Pine is so light that the bleach might make it flat looking. Make sure you neutralize it afterwards.
3) try regular household bleach. Again test a spot first and see what happens. Remember to neutralize
4) you could try oxalic acid which is usually used on stained wood. Not sure it would work but worth a try if you are getting desperate...
5). If you really can't get the yellow out then you could try using a white wood dye over it.

BTW I'd use osmo polyx oil in satin not varnish for the final finish. Very easy to apply and gives a lovely finish. I'd go for a satin finish. It doesn't yellow much either.
If you are after a really light coloured finish look at osmo polyx raw 3044 but make sure you read up how to apply it. It's easy but you need to do it the right way.

Will you update us and let us know what works?

Looks to me like the white spirit wasn't clean. I honestly can't think of any wood treatment that would combine with clean white spirit to cause that. Before seeing the photo I wondered if it had been a surface which was water-based which the white spirit had discoloured a little bit, but that wouldn't cause a change to such a bright yellow.
It's hindsight, of course, but I do try to remember to test things in unseen places first if I don't know what may already be on something, in case the new layer don't stick, or reacts badly. But I have never seen anything like that.

Just had a thought- I wonder if the wood had been wax limed, and the white spirit took it off?

When you wiped it with the white spirit, did anything seem to come off on the rag? If so, what colour was it? Try a tiny unseen bit if there is one, with a black rag and then a white one. And a new pot of white spirit.

Hi everyone, thanks for all the ideas.

Just to u!!!!pdate and say that my yellow wood is now pretty much back to its original colour.

After a bit of sanding which helped a little, I decided that as I was unlikely to make it look any worse I could go for broke and throw everything at it.

In the end it was scubbing with a solution of Vanish that seemed to work best.

I have hopefully learned my lesson

That's good news!

In the end it was scubbing with a solution of Vanish that seemed to work best.

Ha! I love it when a madcap gamble pays off!!

Great news! It was a new one on me, I'll add that to my armoury of things that can happen, and how to deal with them- well done!