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How to remove water stain on Specrite Merbau timber panel?

kjd_2002

Hello experts :).

I installed a specrite merbau timber bench top in the laudry a few months ago and have applies 3 coats of a water based varnish.

The mrs has since soaked something in borax and left it in the benchtop. Why she didnt put it in the sink I have no idea.

Anyhow, the borax mixture has eatn through the varnish amd pulled the tanning out of the timber ( see pick attached).

How would I best go about repairing this and somehoe get the tanning back into the timber.

I have a off cut of the timber so was thinking I may be able to extract the tanning out of that and use it to fix the bench top?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

Kev

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Jewelleryrescue

Hi @kjd_2002

You might like to use a used wet tea bag to wipe over the timber as it should restain the timber for you in gradual swipes keep doing this untill your happy with the closest match . It wont be perfect.

Then re varnish the top.

Before staining try very light sanding fine sand paper to lessen the darker stain lines built up into lines and make sure the bench top is smoooth again.

JacobZ

Hi @kjd_2002,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community and thank you for your question.

It's great to see @Jewelleryrescue has already jumped in with some advice.

I'm not so sure the actual timber itself has been affected, rather the varnish has reacted and looks cloudy when compared with the timber around it. It would take a lot of borax quite some time to penetrate and bleach the timber. If it has done so, it would only really be the very top layer of the timber.

I'd suggest getting some 120-grit sandpaper and sanding it back to remove the layer of varnish over the affected area. Once the layer of varnish has been removed, it will show whether the timber has been affected enough to warrant further efforts.

I'd be surprised if it has affected the timber beyond the top layer, in which case you would simply recoat the affected area with the same varnish you used.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of a way to extract tannins and reapply them to other timber. I imagine if you had liquid tannins leeching from a similar piece of timber you could wipe them with a rag and reapply them to your timber benchtop, but it would be an experimental approach that I can't say I've seen before.

If it has been affected, try the teabag method Jewelleryrescue has mentioned as it will lightly stain the timber. Matching up stains is oftentimes quite difficult, so a staggered approach where you apply a light stain, wait for it to dry and then assess whether to add more is likely the best way to go.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

kjd_2002

Nice one guys. I'll give it a crack over the next week and let you know how I go.

Good job I'm a big fan of black tea 😜.

JacobZ

Keep us posted @kjd_2002, I'm interested to see how you go.

Jacob

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