Our three year old got a little over-enthusiastic in his drawing, and there’s now ball-point pen ink on our nice hardwood dining table. My wife tried checking the Net for solutions, but they were all things like “rotten stone”. (Huh?)
Anybody have any solutions using common place materials?
Thanks.
I dunno about ballpoint ink, but I’ve seen felt-tip ink removed using Bon Ami cleanser–it’s pretty mild but still does a good job.
You might also want to try just using a common eraser on the mark–depending on the wood finish, it might be enough to lift the ink.
[Insert appropriate disclaimers about testing on an inconspicuous spot, may damage the finish, etc., etc.]
I don’t know about ballpoint pen but I had great luck using Mr Clean Magic Eraser for red Sharpie on very light maple. It was amazing.
Well, you can get rottenstone at pretty much any decent hardware store, so it’s not that exotic. It’s just a fine abrasive, used for polishing finishes. I assume that it’s recommended because it will remove (hopefully) the ink from the finish without dulling it too much.
Without knowing how the wood is finished (lacquer, poly, oil), it’s going to be tough to give an answer that won’t maybe result in peeling off the existing finish. At the very least, you should test any cleaning solutions on a non-visible place before using them on the table top.
Practice on something else first. Or on an area that doesn’t show on your table.
Most inks can be dissolved with a solvent. I would try denatured alcohol first.
If that didn’t work, I’d go to an art store where they sell specialized ink removers. Hard to find, but worth it.
Hair spray does a good job removing ballpoint ink from clothes and painted walls, but I don’t know if it would hurt your table’s finish. Test on the underside of the table first, maybe?