It’s easy to place something on a table without thinking of the consequences. You’re hungry and you just want to dive into the pizza boxes. Coffee cups, along with any hot food in a box, are the biggest culprits of leaving white heat marks behind.
The white stains appear when moisture gets trapped under the wood’s finish. It basically just distorts your view of the wood grain. Luckily, there are simple ways to remove these marks quickly.
Whenever you’re treating wood with something, it’s a good idea to test the method on a small, inconspicuous area of the table to check the results before going all out on a sizable area.
With that out of the way, the goal is to get that moisture out without damaging the wood or varnish. Here are the best ways of doing just that.
Iron And Tea Towel
You can remove heat marks from wood by carefully heating the wood up with an iron. Place a tea towel over the stain and iron it without using steam. The heat will pull out the moisture from the wood within a few minutes of ironing.
- Begin ironing on a medium heat setting.
- If you iron on one spot for too long, you will melt the cloth.
Iron the tea towel over the stain carefully, keep the iron moving at all times, like you would with your clothes, so that you don’t burn it. Give it a few seconds to cool down from time to time.
Using steam can actually make the process go faster, as it helps to heat the towel quicker, but we don’t recommend it because you could accidentally use too much and make a bigger stain. It’s better to spend a few extra minutes removing it without the steam for guaranteed results.
Use A Hairdryer
You can also get rid of the heat mark with the help of a hairdryer. We prefer this method over the ironing method because it’s quicker and easier to do.
Start on medium heat and blow-dry the stain without staying in one spot for too long. Spend a few minutes moving around on the affected area and turn the heat up if required. This should remove the heat mark within 5 to 10 minutes.
You can easily burn the finish on your wood with this method if you’re not careful. Don’t heat the wood up too much.
Mohawk No Blush
No blush plus retarder re-flows the finish of the wood and allows the trapped moisture to escape. It’s a product made specifically to remove heat marks from wood, and it works really well.
Just spray it on the stain and leave for 5 to 10 minutes to take effect. When you come back, the stain will be gone and you can wipe the table down with a clean dry cloth to finish.
After you apple the Mohawk, it’s a good time to treat the whole table with the polishes below.
Howard Restor-A-Finish
This is a creamy formula that you smear onto the wood with a cloth. Just rub the polishing compound into the wood and watch as scratches and blemishes disappear.
It’s available in 9 colors to match the wood you would like to treat.
It’s important to apply the product to a cloth first and not to the table directly for best results.
It’s developed especially to treat glossy finishes but will be beneficial to all wood types. You can find it here on Amazon.
Weiman Wood Floor Polish And Restorer
This is another solution similar to the Howard Restor. It also restores your wood with a layer of protection while removing most heat marks, scratches, and other minor damages.
It’s ready-to-use straight from the container and is safe to use around kids and pets.
Allow 30 minutes for drying after application.
Weiman Wood Polish is available on Amazon and most other retailers.
White Ring Remover Cloth
This is a special cloth that can rub heat marks and other blemishes away. It can also remove ink marks from your table.
It usually takes a lot of time, but you can work on one small spot to test the results and move slowly along the stain to keep track of your progress.
In some cases, this cloth won’t remove deep heat marks from the wood. But it will clean on the surface better than any other cloth. Here it is on Amazon.
Mayonnaise
This is not our preferred method, but it works on the odd occasion. Mayonnaise is high in oil content. If you leave some mayo on the stain overnight, it can sink into the finish and get rid of that moisture. Wipe it off the next morning to check the results.
Treat With Toothpaste
Alkaline in toothpaste helps to lift out heat marks from your wood. Adding some baking soda to the toothpaste before application will enhance its effects.
- Mix white, non-gel toothpaste with a bit of baking soda in a small bowl.
- Coat the stain with the solution and allow 10 minutes to pass.
- Gently rub the paste off with a clean, dry cloth.
Olive Oil And Vinegar
For older tables with light heat marks, a mixture of olive oil and vinegar can restore the wood and eliminate the stains. Mix white vinegar with olive oil at a 1:1 ratio. Dab a cloth in the solution and wipe the table down.
Lemon oil can also be applied to the table to remove light stains.
How To Hide Damage On Wooden Tables
Now that you’ve removed the heat marks from your wooden table, it’s a good time to touch the whole thing up and make it look even better. Sometimes severe heat steins can leave permanent scars on the wood. Here are some great products that hide any old blemishes, scratches, and chips
Tibet Almond Stick
If there are some old scars left behind on your table, use the Tibet Almond Stick to remove them in seconds. It also helps to remove some aged heat marks, but it’s mainly for restoration of wood.
This is nice to keep in the cupboard in case you ever need to repair some chips or scratches as you spot them around the house. Check out the latest deals here on Amazon.
Katzco Furniture Repair Kit Markers
If you have any scratches or chips on the wood of the table or chairs, use Katzco Furniture Repair Kit Markers like these on Amazon to cover them up quickly.
Once you’ve colored in any chips or scratches on the table, you won’t even know they’re there anymore.
There’s a range of different colors for many wood types. Start with the lighter options and go darker for best results. Just color in any minor damages and allow to dry within minutes.
Conclusion
The best course of action when dealing with a heat mark is to start with the methods that you can try immediately without buying anything. We suggest ironing or blow-drying the mark out while being careful not to burn the wood finish in the process.
If the heating methods don’t completely remove the mark, move on to the products that are specifically designed to deal with the problem. Mohawk No Blush works very well to extract blemishes from wood.
To complete the process, apply the finishing products to your wood. Howard and Weiman will both clean up your wood and protect it from further damage.
Sometimes, things like toothpaste, mayonnaise, and olive oil will do the trick, but in most cases they won’t. We just wanted to put them out there as options that won’t cost a lot if they don’t work to remove your heat mark.
Once you’ve removed the heat marks, patch the whole table up with the Tibet Almond Stick, it removes scratches and other marks in a flash. Katzco Repair Kit Markers are also great at hiding small imperfections.