White toothpaste works wonders for water stains!

Is your teak table varnished? Shouldn't be....It should be an oiled wood finish. Many folks use teak as decking on boats and for outdoor furnature so it is deffinately water resistant when well oiled.

Diane

Yeah, it's varnished - should be, shouldn't be, who knows? I'd never seen varnished teak before, but I kind of like it! It keeps it from picking up stains from my spaghetti sauce at any rate :) It's a 1960s teak table that I got off freecycle, and it's GORGEOUS... except for that darn water stain!

Thanks for the tip Diane - I'll give it a shot.

Shelly

I tried the toothpaste trick, and it didn't work. Could it be because I have a gel toothpaste? Would the actual white paste stuff work better?

Shelly

Yes, must be white paste to rub out water stains. It works way better that a gel.

Go buy a small travel size tube and try again:-)
Diane

A zillion years ago I read a paperback on easy and quick refinishing. But, I didn't actually carry out many of the recommendations. But I remember two solutions for water stains. One was to use something called "refinisher" that disolves the finish and then lets it reset (???). The other was to sand off the white water stain with very fine emery cloth type sand paper. The theory on this was that the white mark is on the first very thin layers of the finish. I guess, by using a very fine emery cloth, you can maintain the gloss. But, this is what I read many years ago. I don't know it this would work. I am thinking though, that the toothpaste idea is using a similar action, since the toothpaste would be a very mild abrasive.

Jon

I wonder if using a baking soda and water mixture would work the same as the toothpaste?

I saw a guy on TV use the White toothpaste and baking soda combined. You just keep rubbing in circles with your finger. I think it is just lightly sanding the clear coat. But it works. I have used this method on some 1970's furniture with the old type clear coat and it worked great. You might need to do it several times to get the White mark out. Dave

Use a clean cloth and a hot steam iron. Put cloth over stain and iron the cloth. Works great.

try mayonnaise, spread a thin coat over blighted area for a half an hour or so. wipe clean. works best on fresh spotting.