Water rings in "raw" wood

Its not so much a ring as it is a line...

I bought a 1940s era office chair at an estate sale a couple months ago.
I finally got it stripped, sanded, and cleaned (it needed it, I promise).

In the seat there seems to be a water stain that will not sand out.
I'm planning on using boiled linseed oil to finish the chair.

What is the best way to remove this stain?

 

paint chair ?
throw out chair ??
make a worse stain to cover up the existing one ???

a photo would help to see what you're talking about.....

 

If it won't sand out, about all you can do is try to shade the stain to the other wood by selective hand staining and/or tinting the surrounding areas with colored varnish. Bit tricky to do but just overall staining and varnishing will not have the desired effect.

 

Get walnuts in shell. Crack in half. Rub water marks with same. May take some work but it'll do it. (cigarette ash also works.)

 

That pic does not show raw wood. Is this after you applied stain? If not, you should be able to sand those marks out in a solid wood seat that thick.

 

No, this was still during the process of removing original finish, but the stains are still there

 

r u 100% certain that those are in fact stains and not ...in the wood??

 

Hi,
If the finish is all off. Rub it with straight bleach. If it is "ringed" by dampness the bleach will remove it and then lightly sand.
greg

 

Bleach will remove some stains. Oxalic acid (sometimes marketed as wood bleach) is better.

 

hmm.. Ill have the SO look at it tomorrow to make sure its not the actual wood grain..

 

just a thought...wood can be funny that way !

 

He looked at it and saidbits definitely a stain. I havent had a chance to mess with it yet

 

This is what I was getting at......while not having the chair at hand....

( thanks to Brad..)


The quarter sawn.....looks like stains......doesn't it ?

 

Oh I see what youre saying, yeah, its definitely not because its quarter sawn

 

Hi SeaGoat,
Are these some of the stains you are talking about?
greg

 

Yes

 

The one on the left...that was the tree. Not the chair. It's a disease mark from that pesky beetle. Could be lightning or forest fire. Probably beetle disease....

 

My only thoughts isn't sanding it. It's treating your wood with some cleansing agent to brighten it. But that's take bleach. And if you do I'm putting you on the Wall of Shame. Those other marks are like...bleach stains.

 

greg