Thread: Help-How to remove unwanted stains in raw timber

Hi XP, do you know what the black stuff was/is? If not you could try putting down either some paper towel, say four layers or some good thick sketch pad paper like water colour paper over the offending area and then heat it up with a steam iron. This should bring it up if its any sort of waxy oily thing. If it's a rust or metal base thing you can try some CLR Clear dabbed on with a bit of rag. Other wise its keep on sanding. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply. The stuff came off the putty knife, so I guess its some kind of metal. I just read on the TimberMate site: http://www.timbermate.com.au/faqs/ "Use a stainless steel knife or plastic spatula to avoid metal stains from cheap scrapers". I guess its a cheap metal. I'm going to use organoil on the cabinet tops, assuming CLR works, what effect does it have on the wood. Does it clean it really well?

Looks a bit like an indirect warning about how the filler interacts with steel to me. A placcy knife is going to be cheaper than a steel one, but they put down steel tools "metal stains from cheap scrapers" instead of mentioning that their product interacts. Got to wonder what it does over time in contact with a steel nail head.

Interesting thoughts there MALB, now I'm worried.

Xp if you haven't already just test your black stuff on another piece of wood. I have used woodmate for years and have never seen this happen maybe my knife was better quality. Recreate the black stuff and see what will bring it off on a scrap rather than your job.

Thanks Claw Hama, I will try on a scrap piece. All the timber is nailed into the cabinet carcases, so if I stuff up, it will look really bad.