Edit: This was originally posted in reply to an old thread: Hot Cup = Heat Stain (in Ducal Top) = Dog House
Today we decided to dust and polish our Ducal dining table and discovered a large white mark under a table runner. No idea from what or when; we assume it's a heat mark.
Tried briwax but little or no change. Arms aching, we dug out the home DIY books, called parents for advice etc - special removers, stripping varnish etc. Eek! Did an online search and found recommendations to use a hot iron(!). Sounded rather like a wind-up, but found various reports (tipking.com, thiftyfun.com and tipnut.com) and even a youtube video demonstrating.
So, with white towel and steam iron, rubbed the mark through the doubled clean white towel for a few seconds so that the towel got damp and hot. Lifted the towel to check progress, ie it wasn't getting any worse, and quickly flipped it over while it was still hot and reapplied the steaming iron. After 3 flips, the middle of the mark had obviously faded and after 3 more the mark had completely gone. Whole process took about 1 minute.
Quite how this worked, we don't know - can anyone explain? We started out very sceptical but ended up amazed.
Success will no doubt depend on what caused the mark, the type and depth of finish so your mileage may vary, but our Ducal Victoria finish now looks as good as new
Today we decided to dust and polish our Ducal dining table and discovered a large white mark under a table runner. No idea from what or when; we assume it's a heat mark.
Tried briwax but little or no change. Arms aching, we dug out the home DIY books, called parents for advice etc - special removers, stripping varnish etc. Eek! Did an online search and found recommendations to use a hot iron(!). Sounded rather like a wind-up, but found various reports (tipking.com, thiftyfun.com and tipnut.com) and even a youtube video demonstrating.
So, with white towel and steam iron, rubbed the mark through the doubled clean white towel for a few seconds so that the towel got damp and hot. Lifted the towel to check progress, ie it wasn't getting any worse, and quickly flipped it over while it was still hot and reapplied the steaming iron. After 3 flips, the middle of the mark had obviously faded and after 3 more the mark had completely gone. Whole process took about 1 minute.
Quite how this worked, we don't know - can anyone explain? We started out very sceptical but ended up amazed.
Success will no doubt depend on what caused the mark, the type and depth of finish so your mileage may vary, but our Ducal Victoria finish now looks as good as new
