I have a lovely mahjong set with tiles made of bone and bamboo, all fitted into drawers that go into a wooden case. The last time it was put away, someone put the tiles into one of the drawers face-down. Yesterday afternoon when I got it out to play, all of the tiles that had been face-down in their stained wooden drawer had picked up an orangish color. It’s really ugly.
Question: who has ideas about how to clean off the orange color, without hurting the bone and without removing the designs on the tiles?
ouch. This isn’t going t be easy. Bone, being porous picks up staining rather easily I’m afraid. If they have a smooth polished finish, you can try a gentle abrasive, like a 400 or above sandpaper; the stain is most likely only surface deep. If they have a sanded finish the stain may have penetrated deeply and you may need to soak them in a peroxide solution used to whiten bones. You can re-ink the carvings, with india link and a small brush later if they are damaged. I would seal all of them with a natrual wax solution myself to prevent further issues.
