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How to remove mulberry stain from unfinished wood??

How to remove mulberry stain from unfinished wood?? (post #168426)

ridgedweller on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 13:46

Jigs, Fixtures, Tips & Tricks

Please help! Does anyone have a tip or trick for removing mulberry stains (from bird droppings) from my brand new, expensive unfinished windows?!? The wood is very light, and unfinished. The windows were just installed in our new home, and have not been stained and varnished yet. Some crazy birds got in the house while contractors were there working, and before we could get them out, they left droppings on the window sills. Unfortunately, they have been dining at the nearby mulberry tree. By the time I found the stains, they were dried. Baked in really, because the house is closed up (execept for the doorway the birds went in and out) and the weather here has been in the 90's - with heat indexes in the 100's....so it has been HOT in the house. Any way to remove the stains without wrecking the window or spreading the stains worse??

You could try some bleach (post #168426, reply #1 of 4)

by oldusty in reply to ridgedweller [original] on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 06:26

You could try some bleach or Oxalic crystals to see if it lifts the stains , perhaps a dab of goof off or paint stripper .

The berry stain is much like ink imo , bleaching is the only success I have seen with stains like this .

good luck dusty

Thanks Dusty, I will give it (post #168426, reply #2 of 4)

by ridgedweller in reply to oldusty [original] on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 09:43

Thanks Dusty, I will give it a try.

Organic stains normally (post #168426, reply #3 of 4)

by byhammerandhand in reply to ridgedweller [original] on Tue, 08/02/2011 - 19:11

Organic stains normally respond best to an oxidizing bleach. In wood terms, this is the A-B bleach where one part is hydrogen peroxide. I use a very similar product to clean these types of stains from upholstery and I've also just used drug store hydrogen peroxide on my formica counter tops when they get berry stains.

i've had success with various (post #168426, reply #4 of 4)

by noelnivel in reply to ridgedweller [original] on Fri, 08/05/2011 - 11:23

i've had success with various kinds of bleaches on different stains but i would try it out first on scraps or the underside where it won't show first. you don't want a white spot either. and be sure to rinse the wood after.