2009 November | All Kinds of Pottery & China

Bottle Coaster

November 30th, 2009 admin No comments

Bottle Coaster
My sister left a horrible-looking watermark on top of my brand new oak dresser drawer..can/should I sue her?

Before moving overseas for two years, I left the dresser with her and specifically told her NOT to put perfume bottles, hot liquids or anything else on top, or otherwise use coasters and/or cover the entire surface with something to prevent scratches or watermarks like this.

But she didn't do this, and this is exactly what I was afraid of happening...

Now there's an ugly, 3-inch diameter crescent-shaped watermark. It's very conspicuous, right in the middle of the top of the dresser--my beautiful oak furniture is ruined.

Shouldn't she pay me for it without there having to be a nasty family suit? I know that if I demand her to compensate me, she'll refuse.

She's just a selfish, irresponsible person and has always been mistreating my personal property like this...I feel a day in small claims court would be a good way to teach her a lesson in responsibility.

Before you do anything like that, why not try removing them:

Watermarks

As long as the marks are white or whitish in color, there is a very good chance you can repair the water damage without refinishing. (If the spots or rings turn a dark color, the water has seeped through the finish and into the wood and the damage can be repaired only by refinishing.)

Try the following treatments for white watermarks. Start with the first--and mildest--treatment, moving on to the more involved treatments only if the preceding does not work.

Treatments:

1. Moisten a rag with denatured alcohol and try rubbing the spot out.
2. Moisten a rag with camphorated oil and try rubbing the spot out.
3. Moisten a rag with turpentine and try rubbing the spot out.
4. Put a small amount of toothpaste with "extra brighteners" (actually a mild abrasive) on the spot and rub in with your finger or a small cloth pad. Try to keep the rubbing motion parallel to the grain of the wood. The stain should lighten as you rub, eventually disappearing.
5. Sprinkle table salt on the spot. Dip cloth into mineral oil or lemon oil and rub the salt into the spot. If this starts to take the spot out, repeat the process using salt and vinegar (which acts a mild bleach).
6. Mix rottenstone with lemon oil or mineral oil to make a paste. Rub into the spot. It may take a lot of elbow grease to get the spot out. Note: This treatment will dull the surface of your wood, but you can easily fix it by waxing or polishing the area. If that doesn't restore the dull area, in some cases you may need to apply a light coat of shellac or varnish, but this is not recommended as it is difficult to blend a touchup.