We have an old wood table that has been used and abused for years. Bringing it out over the holidays for card playing, I commented how badly damaged it was and wished I knew how to remove the hideous white heat stains that marred the top. While talking I’m quickly covering the surface with a linen trying to hide the mess.
How did they get there? These white cloudy marks were caused by placing hot dishes directly on the surface. It’s been damaged like this for several years.
A few are from Chinese food takeout containers and another was caused by pizza boxes. It seems the heat from the container scorches or somehow steams the finish.
This is why we should always make sure to place potholders or folded towels on the tabletop first before setting hot food down. We may know this, but someone in the home forgot and so–here we are.
That wasn’t all though, there were also some watermark rings caused by setting coffee cups and glasses of soda directly on the surface. You name it–this piece of furniture was covered in it. Like I said–it’s been abused over time!
The good news is that the damage doesn’t need to be permanent, there is indeed a way to repair this and it’s not that difficult nor is there a need for any special products.
Even though I was dealing with an old piece of furniture that only held sentimental value, I understand the stress someone might be experiencing over a piece that is newer or more expensive.
The picture at the right (bottom) is a snap of the repaired table, all discoloration is gone (there is some glare but it’s due to image quality). One of these days I’ll figure out the camera and take better pictures–the wood has a dark finish but you’d never know it from these pictures!
What did I do to fix the problem? While setting out the table (as mentioned above in the introduction), a relative gave me this curious piece of advice:
- For the scorch marks, just take an iron and apply heat to the cloudy blotches, they’ll disappear!
Terrifying, right? But it’s an old table that we have shoved in a corner so with fingers crossed, I decided to take the chance and give it a try.
Success! How I Removed Heat Stains From Wood Furniture
I outlined the steps below in case you’d like to give this a shot too. It’s pretty aggressive so if it’s too risky for your comfort, don’t worry! I have some other ideas listed here as well (it’s probably best to start with those first).
- The first thing I did was wash the wooden surface and dry it well.
- Next, I took a clean, white cotton towel that wasn’t too thick and placed it over the scorch marks.
- Taking an old iron set to high dry heat, I carefully place it directly over the stain (with the towel in between for protection).
- I let it sit for close to a minute, checked, and nothing happened. The damage was still there.
- I kept reapplying the hot iron with no results, but once I turned the steam on–that’s when the magic happened. The marks literally disappeared!
- I couldn’t believe it and it defied logic to me–wouldn’t the steam cause more harm? All I know is that it worked.
- I was quick to wipe away any moisture and water left on the surface after each treatment.
- Added: A few of the comments below recommend finishing things off by wiping in a bit of olive oil once successfully getting rid of the stains, this helps nourish the wood and give it a bit of love after all that it’s been through.
A few days later and the surface is still great. The cloudy discolorations haven’t returned. I keep running my hand across the tabletop and I can’t feel any damage or change to the finish. I’m amazed at how easily this cleaned up–it’s a totally different piece of furniture now!
Caution: I have no idea if this affects the finish, I’m not an expert. It’s something I tried and worked very well in this case.
| Update (2023): I first published this here on Tipnut in January, 2007, so it’s been over 15 years since I wrote this article. There have been a few more stains develop over the years, but they’re new ones…not the originals mentioned here that were removed. I just go through the step-by-step directions outlined above and I haven’t noticed any long term negative effects to the wood at all. |
Updates
Although many are finding this works on their wood furniture pieces, some are reporting that this makes the problem WORSE (see the comments below).
- The reason for the discrepancy could be what the type of finish is…varnish or shellac.
I believe my old table in this project is varnish, but I haven’t tested it to confirm.
Glorious tips & suggestions have been contributed by many readers and those souls brave enough to test this method. Here’s the condensed version of the possible solutions if this technique is successful in removing the original stain–but then ADDS a permanent outline of the iron:
- Try a lower temperature and move the iron slowly around the location instead of letting it sit (thanks Matthew!).
- Others report success with hot temp & no steam (thanks Flora Monroe!)
- Another suggestion to fix this with just a hot iron hovering over the spots (not laying one down on cloth–but hovering–thanks mark harris, Tom, myf, Roxanne, Diana and Melanie!)–I believe they all used steam for the hover method.
- Also scroll down for Dan’s helpful tip using rubbing or polishing compound instead of the above technique if it’s too scary or aggressive for you.
- Timmer shared that the iron method made things worse, the fix that did the trick: spray furniture polish over top then work it in with extra fine steel wool (carefully so not to take off the existing finish). Next, buff with a clean rag once it dries.
Read the hundreds of comments below for all the feedback people have left and to review the results they experienced. I’m thrilled this tip has helped so many–believe me, I know the state of panic you’re in! Also continuing to organize recommended solutions for those who aren’t experiencing success yet, please drop a note if this worked (or didn’t work) for you :).
More DIY Methods To Try
If the removal technique shared above is a bit too aggressive for you, one of these easy tips may help restore the tabletop to looking brand new again…
- Mix 50/50 toothpaste and baking soda, rub in. Do not use gel toothpaste for this.
- Apply a paste of salt and olive oil, allow to sit several minutes (an hour at most). Wipe off.
- Apply Miracle Whip (Mayonnaise) and wipe away after an hour.
- Mix 50/50 vinegar and olive oil, smear over the watermark.
- Try straight toothpaste (non-gel). Apply with the grain then wipe off.
- Make a paste with baking soda and a few drops of water. Rub in then wipe off. You can also try salt instead of baking soda.
- Rub some Vaseline (or other petroleum jelly) into the watermark and leave overnight. Wash off in the morning.
WOW! I’ve spent a small fortune on furniture refinishers with none of them removing the large white spot left on my coffee table by a pizza box. Don’t buy any of those products that promise to do the job just heat up your iron and slowly move it over a towel and just like magic the spot disappears! THANKS FOR MAKING MY COFFEE TABLE BEAUTIFUL AGAIN.
Not to be redundant because you’ve obviously been a life saver for a lot of people… but it worked for me too. 🙂 Thank you.
Also not wishing to be redundant … but THANK YOU too!!
Like many people on here, I left a pizza box on a wooden table that had been painted black. The pizza wasn’t even that hot do it didn’t occur to me to put down a mat. I used a cotton dish cloth (folded over once) with a steam iron on a low-medium setting. The white oxidation stains were gone within 5-10 seconds of ironing. Absolutely amazing!!
I have a square black pottery barn table and had hot soup in a bowl leave a white ring. I did the hot steamy iron with reluctance and it is gone. I did put olive oil on it right after as well and it looks great! Sooooooo happy!!!
The sheer number of successes by people who have commented here shows how well this simple repair works. After reading about 20 comments, I was ready to try it. What did I have to lose? I could end up with one more white mark on my ash table, which was so covered now with white marks that I always left a tablecloth on it. The only thing I regret was that I did not take a before and after picture. Once I got started, I got so excited I didn;t stop until I did the whole table including the once leaf that was in it. What I took out the second leaf, I realized that I should have stopped to take that picture. No one would believe this. I did take one picture with the unrepaired leaf in the middle.
I think the variety of settings people have used is likely due to different irons. On mine it was the wool setting on steam, with a dry white hand towel. 12 to 15 seconds did the trick. Then the olive oil brightened it all up and yes, it did look like new. AMAZING and you can’t beat the price! I no longer need to send it to a furniture refinisher!
THANK YOU!!!!!
WOW! $40k wooden bar. Brand new house. Hubby decides to have 15 guys over to watch the fight. Buys 5 pizzas and puts down protectors that were too small. This morning I go check out the state of things – OMG! So many white stains on a maple bartop stained espresso. I was so scared to try this but it TOTALLY worked. I figured if it didn’t work, I still had a pass as I wasn’t the first to wreck something in our new house…but now I’m the hero. THANK you – AMAZING to see it work!!!
Thank you! Amazing! Worked in 10 seconds on my expensive crate and barrel table. Wow!!,
I had hurriedly put a tablecloth on our wood table, forgetting the table pad, and the heat went through the paper plates we used that night. I hovered a steam iron over the white areas and they vanished…..followed with English Oil and it looks wonderful! Thank you!
DO NOT TRY THE IRON, STEAM AND TOWEL method. My beautiful new oak table looks WORSE than before.
I found 3 white ring marks on my new Oak dining table last night and was mortified as they were so prominent, we have been using mats but obviously they wernt good enough when placing hot dishes on them, so in a panic i googled how to get them off and came across this page, i’ve just tried it out on a medium steam and WOW the marks really have gone and i’m amazed and one very happy lady, i wiped some Olive oil over the top very quickly and the table is now like new again.
Thnks so much for the brilliant and very helpful tips!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Like so many, I was just sick when I saw the white mark left by putting a hot dish on top of a damp dish towel. I have a dark wood dining table that I thought was ruined. I even contacted a refinishing company to schedule an appointment to provide me an estimate to refinish. Before the appointment, I saw an “Ask Heloise” article that suggested using white toothpaste to get rid of the white mark. This did nothing but leave my white spot super shiny. Frustrated by that, I decided do an online search to see if there were any other suggestions when I came across your site. I just used my iron according to your suggestion. I tried dry heat first – and it did not help. So I tried the steam and the white mark was gone in minutes!! I followed up with applying some olive oil for the finish and the table is like new. As we go into the Holiday season, I no longer have to worry about how to cover this awful spot.
Thanks again – AMAZING, for sure!!
Sorry folks, the steam iron trick DOES NOT work. I have several spots a on a chery wood dining table that I can’t figure out. I’ve tred oils, polishes & now this but nothing works. Would appreciate any other suggestions.
It works!!! I was leary of trying this but the table was so bad it was this or new table. It took the stains out in seconds!!! We put the white cloth down and put the iron directly on the cloth with steam. Yay!!! Thank you!!!
It’s thanksgiving and we ran out of pot holders so we put the stuffing on a dish towel. When we cleaned the table we lifted up the towel. We gasped in distress!!! There was a big white rectangle on our table! Our thanksgiving is ruined!!!!!!! Then my sweet, wonderful daughter went online and found this website! My mom thought it was crazy but my daughter knew it would work because Omar said so. We used my dad’s t-shirt and the stain was gone in seconds!!! We poured olive oil on a paper towel and it was pretty and shinny! Oo la la!! Thanksgiving is saved!!!!!!!!
I have an antique mahogony dining table that I set a hot bowl on and was also using a very thick hot pad. When I took my table cloth off there was this awful white mark the size of the bottom of the bowl! I could have cried it looked so bad! I used the toothpaste trick and it didn’t work at all. Then I went to the computer and looked up answers. The steam iron, white towel, and a little olive oil got rid of all of it! Now I have one more thing to be thankful for on Thanksgiving! Thanks, DIY!
This solution is legit! Just worked after our Thanksgiving meal left some white heat stains!
At Thanksgiving dinner,someone places 2 glass coffee carafes (HOT!) on my cherry Stickley buffet. By the time I realized it, there were huge white rings. Did the iron (at a less hot setting with steam over a man’s old undershirt, and voila!!! Totally remarkable!!! I might put lemon oil (or maybe mineral oil — doesn’t get rancid) on it, as there is a slightly less shiny spot… I am truly amazed, and would never have believed it!!!!! Thank you!
I runied my wood dining room table on thanksgiving. I had the sweet potatos on a towel and a hot pad. However after dinner the towel was stuck to the table. I was so upset. I saw this tip and tried it with a towel and warm iron with steam. It took the stain out but left it a littly cloudy. I rubbed olive oil on a paper towel and rubbed all over the table. Let it sit a little then rubbed it out with a clean paper towel. the mark is totally gone and the olive oil conditioned the table and made it so shiny. I had to olive oil the chairs so they matched the shine of the table. They just soaked up the olive oil! So surpirzed it looks better than before1 thank you so much! YOu saved me from buying a new table!
What about if the hot food left bumps and not white marks? The wood covering is very thin and if you scratch it it leaves much lighter marks since that’s what’s underneath.
I was extremely nervous about giving this a go and ruining the table even more! But, 30 seconds later after using your advice (ironing a towel and some steam) the water mark has been removed – it’s like magic! Thank you for this brilliant table-saving tip. I will be sure to pass it on.
God bless you and bless the ability for those to be able to help others on websites. I was borrowing my friends, dad’s, table, which was old. I place a hot dish on a towel on it and it left a horriable white ring. It was like a miracle it only took seconds and it disappeared. Thank you so very much!! I works. I will never forget this.
Thanks for this tip. A friend came over for dinner and put a pizza box on the dining table. When we were done there was a white mark on the table. I followed your directions and the mark is gone. It’s a high-gloss table so I was skeptical but it’s out and I am thrilled. Thanks again.
WOW!
Thank you!
my table looks brand new.
I had many white marks from hot plates and boxes…I hovered the iron while pressing steam, wiped up any water and polished with olive oil!
Makes no sense….but i am so happy it worked!
I used your method after trying the towel….etc.
Thanks for posting, yours worked!
Thanks for the tip! I was skeptical because my table had heat marks for years. It worked! No more heat marks! Thanks!
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! Just tried this and it worked!!!
Thank you. This worked for me too.
I don’t know or care why but it worked on my dark table…medium iron, little bit of steam for just a few seconds at a time
No more covering up with a table cloth. I’m shocked and impressed. Wish I had done it years ago.
This worked beautifully for getting a large white mark off of our antique table..we just stood there amazed that it actually completely removed a plate sized mark. Thanks so much for this tip.
Good tip! Worked great! Thanks!
So….the trick to this is to go lightly at first…..I had to try this method a few times.
The first time, I had the Iron on high with the steam on high and went over a towel….it actually made the stain worse. I tried again, because hey! the table was already ruined.
The second time, I doubled up the towel and turned down the heat on the Iron. Nothing happened.
The third time I tried, I removed the towel all toghether and went with the hover method and used a shot of steam. voila! the white stain disapperred where the jets of steam hit the table….so now I have a big white blob and wood circles in the middle in the shape of my iron. After multiple tries, I found that if I let the steam come out and kept the iron moving, the stain disappeared. The table gets wet, so I had a towel in one hand wiping up the water. I also would use olive oil in between shots of steam and wiping with the towel. It was a quick process…about 1 minute in total.
Good luck!
I tried the steam iron/white cloth tip on my mahogany kitchen table that unfortunately received white burn marks from paper plates. Sad to say, this tip made things worse for me, i now not only still have the burn marks on the table from the plates but now have a white iron mark too 🙁 I kept the iron on for a very short time as i feared this might happen and tried to rub olive oil in to bring back the shine….nothing. Oh well, it was worth a try.
Slowly faded the white hot cup marks from my walnut polished dining table. Took a few minutes doing it repeatedly for a short time and rubbing away the dampness. Polished it afterwards and virtually gone. Excellent
Thank you so much for this wonderful tip. We have a new dining table which we’ve only had a month and I had a microwaved bowl of soup and not realizing how hot the bowl must have been, set it on the table. I didn’t realize there was a white heat stain on the table until just a few moments ago and was really upset because this is such a nice dining set but your tip saved the day! The iron method worked perfectly at removing the white ring. I used a clean white t-shirt and set my iron to low initially and gradually increased the heat and kept the iron moving and it was gone in no time. Once again, thanks so much for the wonderful tip!
I really want to say Thank You so much for this tip, I found it on Pinterest. A few months ago, a bottle of rubbing alcohol got spilled on my bedroom dresser, needless to say no one told me they spilled it…turned the whole top of my dresser white…..I tried this tip, and I was totally amazed….IT REMOVED THE WHITE STAIN FROM MY EXPENSIVE DRESSER!!! THANK YOU
I wonder if heat will work on crayon and marker lines all over my table…we took in not only my 3 year old niece but a family who was dealing with domestic violence and the kids ran a little wild. I noticed after the tablecloth came off that there were crayon and marker stains ALL OVER my table!! I tried EVERYTHING so now I am gonna go try the iron!!!
Cup of hot chocolate splashed across my grandparents’ 80-plus-y-o mahogany expanding table that hadn’t got put away yet after Thanksgiving, white marks in just the shape of the spillage.
Steam ironing over paper towels did it — needed to be on the cotton setting with some steam to make the heat go through. Got a little too hot and/or damp and a bit of paper towel stuck into the finish (didn’t have a white cloth towel handy) — got that off with toothpaste, and olive oil (didn’t have mineral oil or furniture polish around) over the entire panel and it’s looking as good as I’ve ever seen it.
Thank you so much. I was so angry at my children tonight I thought I was going to explode. No one would own up to it, but I thought it was odd when one of the kids put on a tablecloth on the table and said look how pretty this looks. Now I know why she put it on there to hide the spots. I was livid, and only 4 days before Christmas. I tried the toothpaste, didn’t work, but the towel with the steam iron worked wonders. I also put some olive oil on the towel and rubbed it in at the end. Looks great. No marks left. Thank you so much. I am back in a great mood, just in time for Christmas.
Worked like a charm!
We had a Christmas party last night and in the morning we noticed white foggy marks on our beautiful wood dinning table. I was so upset! One of my friends spilled red wine on the table last night, so I first thought the stains were caused by the wine even though we wiped it out right away, then I noticed that one of the stains was square shaped and it was the size of a square bamboo mat that we placed under a very hot pot when serving dinner.
I tried rubbing mayonnaise and the stains became a little less visible, but it made very little difference.
Then I tried the steam iron and I could not believe my eyes! All the stains s are now gone! I am so happy! Thanks so much for sharing this tip!
Thank you…Thank you…Thank you! Christmas dinner and hot plates even with the hot pads stained my table! I used a hot iron with a cloth and they were gone with no damage to my cherry dining room table! Oh so relieved!
Works Fabulously! What a relief. Tried mayo, tried orange oil, but no luck. Medium iron, no steam, white t-shirt and the spot was gone. I had set a bread basket with one of those microwavable heat packs on the table. Won’t do that again … not without my iron handy. THANK YOU.
I set a hot bowl of veg on my oak dinning room table and when I saw the mark later that night I was sick, I tryed all the reg treatment and nothing work until I tryed the steam iron and shirt. Thanks
We were staying at a cabin and made a turkey dinner. My mom placed the turkey on a dish towel because we had nothing else to put it on. When we moved it we had ruined the table with a large white spot. We tried to remove it and nothing worked. Then I googled it and found this site. Unfortunatly we didn’t have an iron. I tried tooth paste, salt, anything I good. All the sites said use an iron or a hair dryer or any oil. So to anyone out there that has none of the above- here is how to fix it. Boil water in a pot then put that on the towel. Remove it after about 30 seconds and try again. Rub the stain with paper towel to get the water out. Keep boiling and repeat until almost gone. Then I used butter because that’s all we had and that removed the final hint of white. It took awhile and a lot of creativity but it’s 100% gone now.
Thanks for the help
Thank you for the tip regarding the white heat stain from the wooden table. I couldn’t believe the advice but it worked a treat however, it did take the shine off the table but this was alot less obvious than a big white stain. Thank you.
Wow! It ACTUALLY worked! Within seconds! My good deed of bringing coffee to my partner in bed was punished when I placed the hot french press on the dresser. The iron (with steam over an old t-shirt) worked within 2-3 seconds – so amazing! Thanks for this! You saved my life! Literally! 🙂
Ok..so I have a white kitchen table where I wash the dishes..I put a bowl which was hitted and left a brown stain (ring)..I tried the iron on steam.I put a white towel over the stain and I wanted to place the iron over the stain but I was afraid that if I leave it , it would do another stain so I held it over the towel..and it didn’t get off the stain..please help!What should I do? And yes the stain was brown-yellow..
Every fiber of my being told me NOT to do this. I did anyway. It worked. All of the fibers of my being still can’t believe it.
Had white steam mark on Russian oak table from hot fish and chips. Used steam iron on medium hovered it 1cm over mark it started to disappear before my eyes rubbed olive oil between hovers. I’m so exited.
FORGET THE IRON: Spray Pledge on the spot(s), let it sit on each area for abour 10 min. Wipe off, then buff with a paper towel. The white marks will disapear. Pledge has an alchole base which will dry the moisture trapped in the finish of your table .
Black table, white heat stain from a pizza box (those things are the devil :|)
I used toothpaste, Arm & Hammer Baking Soda & Peroxide. There is still a dark grey (almost not noticeable but I’m OCD), so I might wait a little and try it again later. But over all I’m extremely impressed and happy with the results!