How to remove stain?

[WalksWithTurkeys]

Ercol furniture seems to be sometimes/always stained with a horrible stain, yellow in the case of an elm coffee table I have. How do you remove it? I tried oxalic acid, but it did not remove it all after 2 or 3 applications. (And warping the table due to the water content, now flat due to applying water on the opposite side.) I've now stained and oiled that table, but for future reference I'd like to know how to remove it.

 

[pinenot]

I don't really know anything about the subject, but here's a site I found whilst browsing - http://www.woodworking.org/WC/Garchive01/3_27colorants.html ...pinenot

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

Thanks, though it did not help. It looks as if I managed to remove enough of the stain that the result is now pretty good. Colron say the way to remove their stain is with sandpaper.

I have a feeling caustic soda can do the job, but it is very nasty stuff, not to be messed with.

 

[JohnD]

is there a reason why you don't want to sand it?

colron can mostly be washed away with white spirit, by the way.

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

In this case I could have sanded the top down, although I did sand it a lot. But I have another coffee table, and sanding down the frame is not easy due to the shape. Maybe that is the only way.

I should have tried many applications of white spirit, certainly one application did bring a bit off onto the cloth, perhaps with persistence it would have worked. Thanks for the idea.

 

[JohnD]

I have sometimes applied linseed oil, with the first few coats thinned with white spirit, and it washes away the colron if I've already applied it. Cuprinol clear does the same. I now tend to mix Colron and Cuprinol in a jar, or colron, white sprit and linseed oil, so that I am applying more colour instead of washing it away.

I do apply quite generously, with a soft brush rather than a rag.