During the holidays we had some friends over for a dinner party. We served an extra hot meal that night and after everyone left and the dishes were cleared and the table linens removed, I discovered foggy white marks all over my beautiful new table. This one was the smallest, though brightest mark.
Before I had a chance to freak out too much, my husband did some googling and we discovered that on some pieces of furniture if moisture (usually from the steam condensation on a hot dish) gets under the finish, white splotches called heat marks will appear and will stick around until treated.
You’ll be surprised to learn, as I was, that to remedy heat marks, you apply… more heat and moisture! Weird, right? I just used two folded over clean white linen napkins and sprayed them down a little with water. You want there to be several layers of cloth between your iron and the table surface. Then I ironed over the napkins on top of the heat marks for about 15 seconds with the iron on a medium heat/steam setting. Don’t just set the iron down though – keep it moving.
I have no clue why my table looks so dark here. Must have messed up the camera settings.
It was like magic and the heat marks disappeared (though in these photos I can see I missed a spot that doesn’t show in person).
Anyway, random post today, but I thought maybe some of you might have had a similar issue with your wood furniture. Or if in the future you see these heat marks on a thrift store table, don’t pass on it – it’s an easy 15 second fix. I can remember one gorgeous coffee table that I didn’t buy because of it’s heat marks. I thought I would need to strip and refinish the whole thing! Who knew?
Thanks for your nice post about furniture.I like it.
I inherited my great grandmother's dining table and tried this on a heat mark (a while ago)but it created an iron mark. I may try some of the suggestions from the commenters – denatured alcohol or Howard's Restore-a-Finish. I think it depends on how the table is finished. I realized that mine does not have a polyurethane finish on it. I'm not sure when the table was made – the 40s or 50s. I don't know how they finished furniture back then. I should maybe contact somebody who works with antiques but I don't know where to start. I'm afraid to make it worse and I can't try to refinish it myself b/c I don't know what the heck i'm doing! :) It's a beautiful table with three leaves. Right now I have a table cloth on it but I want to see the beautiful wood!
I just tried this (I was also 8:08 a.m.) and it made the marks a lot worse and bigger because of the size of the iron as opposed to the marks. I had my iron at medium, with steam and kept it moving the whole 10-15 seconds. Maybe this only works on some finishes/woods? Anyway, be careful, those who may try this. Maybe test on the underside of the table?
OK, it's me again 8:08 and 7:27 – success! I used a clean white (dry) tshirt, folded in half, with the iron at a high setting with steam and the marks are now gone! I googled the problem and found this solution.
Anyway, not saying to do what I did but hopefully this might help Jules @8:52.
Love your blog, Jenny!
ahh i would have freaked out too. amazingly easy fix, nice!
Who knew it could be that easy?? I'll have to try it on my coffee table that has marks from early morning coffee cups!
My mom and I tried this when we ruined my grandfather's antique table at Christmas…it helped but didn't completely get rid of the spot. We also massaged some olive oil into the table and that helped a lot too!
~SW
Jenny,
Please please ,can you add to the post and add info of heat/scortch marks on marble…
I have a light grey marble top in kitchen and a saucepan size white ring :-( any ideas?anyone?
Thanks
Ruth
great tip! thanks for sharing!
Oh my gosh thank you so much for this! Love all the other helpful comments from your readers too. ;o)
I've had success with using cigarette ashes mixed with some water to create a paste then rubbing it in with a toothbrush. After a little arm power, the water marks disappear. The only problem is finding someone who smokes so you can get the ashes.
This worked on Vodka rings that were left on my kitchen table after my friends and I made homemade vanilla for Christmas presents.
Awesome tip! I haven't run into this problem yet but if I do I'll know I don't have to freak out…..Thanks!
I am very grateful to you for posting this! I had a mark like that on my piano, and I was so sad to think I was just going to have to live with it. Just tried this trick and it worked perfectly! I'm so pleased!
Omigosh!!! Thank you Jenny! this just happened to our new wood table (like yesterday)and before I got on the net to find out what to do your post was up! Thank you!
I was afraid to use the iron, so I used the magic eraser followed by my hairdryer on high. Nearly gone – then I put some wax on it and totally gone. The age of the spot didn't matter!
Random Post? What? I LOVE IT! Thank you so much Jenny!! I heard about this remedy too, but I was afraid to try it. Now that you have tested the waters, I'll give it a try! Thank you soooo much!!!!!!!!!
Ah love it, had spent lot of money on so many cleaning solutions & powders, Thanks a lot.
This is such a timely and appreciated post. Just this week I made enchiladas for our girls and their babysitter — but the babysitter apparently took the pan from the oven and put it directly onto my beautiful mahogany dining table, because when we came home, our table was ruined! You've saved me much stress this week; thanks so much!
Another fix is mixing ashes (from a cigar) with lemon juice. After mixing, use a clean rag to rub the desired area clean. TahDah!
I had one ring – from forever ago – it would drive me crazy! I had tried mayonnaise, olive oil, Murphy's Oil soap. I was excited when I read about the iron and rushed to try it. Now I have the ring and another larger spot. I'm not sure what to do. I tried the toothpaste and this made the one new spot a little better, but did nothing to the old spot.
I have put mayonnaise on both spots and am praying at least the new spot will go away. I thought I had it bad with just the one spot – please advise. Maybe I should try the ashes – from a cigar? Thanks.
how interesting! thanks for the tip. i wonder if this would work on wood floors?? i have white marks (from the previous owner) from big indoor plants leaking through their containers.
Ok, so I just ironed over a stain that was probably almost a year old and it came right up!
Thanks!
Hi, we had the same problem with our new dining room table. Looked online at a carpentry site, and they recommended buffing it with denatured alcohol and a soft cotton cloth. I did that and it worked! I've actually done it multiple times for other heat marks, and they always come out. So those of you for whom the ironing trick doesn't work, try a little denatured alcohol (not rubbing alcohol).
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Thank you!!! I've been so bummed about the big spot on my table!! Will be trying this during nap time today.
Simply amazing. I would have never thought of using an iron to remove that mark. Thanks for sharing this.
This is an incredible entry! Not random at all, rather, very very helpful!
Thanks for the lovely post. Good to know that there are other options to fix those random oversights!
From experience: someone who has furniture polishers and carpenters redo furniture even at the slightest sight of a nick/mark, we've known denatured alcohol is the quickest and most technically opted route.
A month ago I messed up my hallway table (inlay work et al) while taking the easy route of ironing a table cloth on it. Since I would've had to wait for DH to come home and help out with dentured alcohol, I chose to use my quick way out.
Rub down regular daily cooking oil or olive oil and wipe excess off with a soft cloth. Works!
This is for regular wood tables with no additional enamel finish etc.
I have used a blow dryer. Just focus it on the white spot and BINGO, success.
So I tried this and it made my spots worse, but what did work perfectly was using a craft heat gun, hold it close and slowly move it across the spot, you can see it disappear. I have a mahogany table and it didn't damage it at all.
Not all heat guns have the same wattage, I used the Darice craft heat gun.
We constantly have problems with this! I use a liberal application of Pledge orange OIL (NOT the regular stuff, the oil with the orange top in a squirt bottle) and then wipe it all off or it will be super slippery. We have a cheap-ish dark wood table and I assume every time we eat I will be left wth spots to remove later. Sometimes it takes a couple applications, but eventually they fade. I was using tablecloths for a while, but it left me with even grosser, FUZZY heat marks where the tablecloth had steamed itself to the table… So now we oil it up. So glad to know I'm not the only one!!! Thanks!
wow thanks for sharing we constantly put hot food on the table and made white marks on it. My husband laborously repainted and refinished our breakfast table. From then on we are so careful not to leave white marks on our table…ahhh there's hope we can live normal again.
THANK YOU!!!! I had a HUGE spot (about 12 inches by 10 inches) from being stupid enough to iron on a towel on my dining room table. I have been prepping to sand and refinish the top, but was beside myself wondering how to match it to the chairs and hutch. This helped SO MUCH!!!! Not 100%, but much much MUCH improved… you have to really look closely now to see it.
AMAZING!!! I've filed this in my memory bank….for next time I see this! Great, useful post!!!
Worked wonderfully! Thank you for sharing
Did not work for me. Be sure you don't care what the outcome will be when you try this. I am sure it works for some, but I was disappointed when I tried it out.
We had a minor hot mug ring in our 50+ year old coffee table. Not being sure what the finish is, I was reluctant to use the iron technique. After reading the denatured alcohol I grabbed it from our pantry and used a cotton t-shirt to rub the spot. It worked!!! I am beyond excited to no longer have to awkwardly cover it with table decorations. Now to fix the fork dings…
I just heard about this site today…and I put a cup of coffee ona side table and did not bother with a coaster and sure enough a big white ring when I picked up my coffee cup!!! So, I thought, good opportunity toncheck out this site. And I glad I did!!! This technique works beautifully!!!! Ring is gone!!!! Thank you so very much!!!
I just heard about this site today…and I put a cup of coffee ona side table and did not bother with a coaster and sure enough a big white ring when I picked up my coffee cup!!! So, I thought, good opportunity toncheck out this site. And I glad I did!!! This technique works beautifully!!!! Ring is gone!!!! Thank you so very much!!!
it didn't work!!! It only made it larger and worse!!
Thanks, this is a wonderful collection of tips.
THANK YOU!!!! I've been covering the heat mark on my kitchen table with a placemat. I'm going to try this b/c I don't lose anything even if I make it worse. :)
didn't read all the comments and this may have already come up – but a less scary and equally effective method is to mix tobacco ashes and toothpaste! It has to be "old-fashioned" toothpaste. Not gel or the liquidy kind, and has to be tobacco ashes. I have used cigarette and pipe ashes and they both work.I actually keep a tube of original Crest in my sideboard so I can find it when I get rings on my dining room table-have to hunt down a smoker for the ashes! Make a paste with a lot of ashes and enough toothpaste to spread it on. Leave a couple of hours, wipe with damp sponge and mark is gone. My grandmother and mother have done this to their antiques for decades and never a problem..also did it to several pieces in my sorority house in college…fail proof!
I just searched for this 2 days ago! Thanks!
I was so excited to try this…and I failede. BUT…I didn't give up. I am not sure what the science is behind this, but I believe it has to do with the evaporation speed. If I just ironed and then lifted off, the center would be gone, but the edges were still there. So I would try to get the edges gone and I just kept spreading the circle bigger…ugh. Then I wet the cloth a little more (wet,but not soaked) ran the iron over it for 10 -15. Took Iron off, lifted cloth, put cloth back down and when it wasn't just cool enough to touch, I buffed with it until moister evaporated…WORKED…it WORKED!!! Thank you it WORKED :)
I ruined my mom's coffee table this way and didn't have any idea how to treat it and there was no internet back then. I am so happy to know how to fix the problem if it ever happens again. thanks for sharing.
This worked I just tried it!!! Thank you so much!
I had a heat white stain on my coffee table from a glass and also a white mark from a pizza box. I applied mayonaize and let it sit for a little while then wiped it and the stains were gone.
You're a lifesaver! This solution worked perfectly using a folded white clean tshirt. Thank you!!
Thank you so much! I was cooking dinner at my boyfriends house and set some of the dishes on their nice dining room table and had two large white marks on the table top. This worked like a dream! Thank you so much for posting this amazing trick!