Now just waiting for my wife to come home so I can claim it was all my own work! 1 minute later, the stain was gone!!!!!! I place a hot dish on a towel on it and it left a horriable white ring. Over tshirt. The oil really seemed to finalize the removal, and my family was really impressed with the results. lots of small to medium size white spots from thanksgiving dinner. Maybe 20 seconds on the wood. The meths will light and the mark will disappear. I will never iron on that table again.. ha ha. Holy Crap! I repeated all these steps 3 times, and the spot got progressively less and less. Used the thin white towel with iron method. But decided to see if there was some way of removing the ugly white rings once and for all, so searched the internet and hey presto found the hot steam iron trick and it worked with no damage to the surface of the table. Thanks so much!!!!! I was scared to try your tip but it worked! I wish I could post the pictures before & after. thank you everyone after making a second white mark on our coffee table with a pizza box i paniced as, although it is not a very expencive or fancy table it was a gift from my husband, i used a combination of steam first with a towel(not much change) then with a cotton pillow case which got rid of the older stain not the new one, then tried a hair dryer worked a charm added a bit of olive oil and now there is a slight mark but it is slowly fadingand is hardly noticable. We had white stains from hot stuff on paper plates and my wife was sick about it. !My husband was furious with me because this was his mothers dining room table she had made by the Amish community and it wasn’t cheap.She passed away 2 years ago on December 17th and we didn’t have the money to have it redone. OOoooh, I was mad. Thank you so very much! we were desperate and nervous about using the steam technique… but alas! BRILLIANT IT WORKED FOR ME GOT RID OF ALL THE MARKS THANKS FOR THE TIP. Thank you this came right up. I could tell it seemed a little better so I wiped it dry and continued. Worked on a newer stain on a walnut coffee table and on a ten year old stain on my oak dining table!! Amazing!!! Thank you so much !! Despite having mats down it still left a huge white T shape. Ironing is good for a table that you are not afraid of ruining. can’t believe this worked so wonderfully… I bought a new table just couple months ago and there was a white heat stain since a week and it has been bothering me so much. I can’t even believe this worked! Don’t try to impress the wife with this one…trust me. Although I cannot explain exactly why this worked, I really care more that it did! I am so excited by this. Now I won’t feel like crying if it happens again. I just really want to repair the damage to his family heirlooms. It looks great and gives a temporary protectve coating. Thanks so much for the tip. I tried mineral oil, and professional cleaners, ashes etc. Thanks to all for your posts! I followed up with some walnut oil to polish, and the table looks great! It is a miracle! It may be necessary, however, to do … Wow, I bought an old farm table, paid almost $900. I tried it a second time with a different iron on the same table and it made it WORSE. Had several large white “blush” patches and two ring marks from cups. Also scroll down for Dan’s helpful tip using rubbing or polishing compound instead of the above technique if it’s too scary or aggressive for you. WOW! Thank you soooo much for passing on this wonderful tip! I pressed quite firm and kept it moving. The best way to get water rings off floors, tables and wooden furniture. I immediately panicked! Before learning of the iron technique, I tried rubbing the spot with a damp cloth. After eating I watched the Oklahoma-Missouri Big 12 title game and a few hours later I removed both boxes to find MANY white stains (as I mentioned, previously only like one small one would pop up), but this time multiple white stains (close to 10!) Looks great! The heroic husband took the toddler away from the exhausted mommy to get some much needed pizza. Thank you soooo much!!!!! I had a large heat spot on my good dining room table, and for years, covered it with a mirror runner since it was in the center from a serving bowl. I now had a circular white area on my varnished table. It works! I was very quick over the white towel with the steam iron and the stain was removed (SO very happy) but if I run my hand over the area it is rough over where I applied the technique. Oops. I have a cedar coffee table with the “infamous white heat rings” but I am afraid to make it worse…any suggestions TipNut??? I’d also like to thank Google. Steam heat with an iron is the trick! My dining room table is my favorite piece of furniture. Still going to be careful from here forward. WOW, what an absolutely superb tip. I’ve lived with several cloudy white marks on our Skovby teak dining table since just after buying it. So, today off to the market and hardware store I went. Days after purchasing my new table something too hot was set on the wood table that has shining finish. I left a big white mark from a bag of fast food on my roommate’s table a couple of months ago, and it’s been bugging me. …and here I was Googling methods for sanding & staining. I tried the steam on one ring and it made it worse. If this is a good table, I would not use mineral spirits or anything like that. Just used hovering powerful steam iron on my beech table that had severe iron white heat marks. I put a thin layer of mayonnaise on the wood and let it sit for 15 minutes. And I did not press the iron against the table, I only let the steam hit it as close as I could without it touching. then quickly rub in some vegetable oil . Thank you!!!! Crikey Mia, you made out awesome! I used a white pillowcase folded in half, steam iron set on “cotton” (high) setting, and did not hover, but moved the iron around in a circular pattern for approx. I’m amazed at how easily this cleaned up–it’s a totally different piece of furniture now. I tried rubbing mayonnaise and the stains became a little less visible, but it made very little difference. I am amazed! Well, it works on teak. Worked like magic…I was quite discouraged with those withe stains on our beautiful dining table… thanks! I tried the steam iron trick and removed all the stains. Absolutely amazing could not believe my eyes WOW!!!!!!!! Who would believe it. Like others, I was very skeptical; but it WORKED! WORKED GREAT. I just held the iron over the wood and as the steam hit it you could see it disappear!!! When I looked at it I thought that she had burnt the clear finish right off. It looks like new I am tempted to hover the iron around the entire table LOL!!! You would never have known the difference! Any suggestions? I just kinda smiled (practicaly thru tears) and said don’t worry about we can get it fixed. at the moment i have got mayonnaise and salt on the patch will let it sit for an hour then wipe it off. I’m shocked and thrilled! Thanks for this excelling posting. It does work, amazing! Thanks for publishing this tip! Didn’t work for me. We used a standard steam iron and white towel. I literally tried everything else mayonnaise, cigarette ashes, even the olive oil and salt. Then I got bolder and plugged in the iron. The spots are totally gone and my table looks like new again. I was a little worried about using an iron on it but I figured that I needed to have it redone anyway so I ran the iron on dry over a white towel for a minute or so and then put on the steam. i hot steam ironed on an old t-shirt placed on the table marks, then furiously rubbed it afterwards with a dry towel. I’ve had cloudy marks on my wooden table for a couple of years (at least) and never dared to try taking them out. The Large white mark came right off. I am so pleased. I actually used a hand-held steamer and applied the steam to a pillow case that was folded in half. After reading through these comments, I decided to give it another go with no steam … didn’t do a thing. I was going crazy about removing the heat stain on our coffee table! My Mother is going to be sick when she learns this. Finally googled for tips and found this one. Had no idea even how I wud google that. Searched and found this site and read multiple recommendations. I am one of the many in total disbelief this worked. You may be able to squash a veneer blister simply by placing a damp cloth over it, and then holding a hot iron on the cloth for a minute or so until the cloth starts getting dry. This worked for me. Holy Hanna! Had a water resistant table cloth over it. Thank You for this post! after reading this i quickly went down and did it on the white marks in our dining table and it disappeared in just seconds!!! Thank you sooooo much!! Thank you! Thank-you so much for the valuable tip!! Polished the table afterwards and no more scorch mark!! I’m baffled how this works! Left a larger white area and a rough finish. What did I have to lose? There was a circular smudge of white left where the sandwich sat. 9/05/2012 Just bought a gate leg table at a local recycle place that had a large white circle. and another suggestion to fix this with just a hot iron hovering over the spots (not laying one down on cloth–but hovering–thanks mark harris, Tom, myf, Roxanne, Diana and Melanie! Now all I need to do is figure out how to get the ring out. i RUINED my roommate’s table while she was out of town by STUPIDLY placing some hot leftover dishes from my catering job on the table. She is out of town at the moment. And whatever the modern cheap clearcoat is. Skeptical, but it worked like a charm. as they say…… Worked in under a minute. We got a steam mark on our floor from a steam mop and found this page. Any suggestions for faux wood? i tried the iron and it made the stain on coffee table bigger so then tried blow dryer and it didn’t help at all. When I initially tried it I was thinking that the table was ruined anyway so what the heck. It’s not all gone and I’m a bit afraid to do much more, but with a bit of Old English rubbed into the area, it’s hardly noticeable now. I placed a hot Corning Ware container of turkey on a towel on my son’s beautiful wooden dining room table thinking it would protect it. The spent some time polishing the marks away it worked pretty well. I was going to send the table out to be professionally refinished, but have saved myself a lot of money. Thank you so much.”, PRAISE THE LORD!!! OMG – The Iron trick did the job!!!! Then, I went back to steam, this time adding in the step to wipe immediately after I lifted the t-shirt with olive oil, (I had a clean towel set right next to my work area pre-loaded with olive oil). was worried as I got the stain from ironing on the table on a heavy towel doubled up. My wife just bought a table for £40 which had 3 or four sizeable white marks and a few small ones. Then I held a steaming steam iron about 1/2 inch above the table top for about 3-5 seconds and immediately wiped away the resulting water and the marks were gone and did not return. However, the next morning it left a really huge ring of white. YES!! If that’s too aggressive for you, no worries, I have some other ideas listed here as well. It removed the ring but its now got a huge white patch where the iron was. Trust me I won’t be making that mistake again. I tried some Pledge, which only helped a very little bit! NOPE- I used our coffee table that was a gift from my husband. all white spots gone. Lots of rubbing and scrubbing. It was like a miracle it only took seconds and it disappeared. It was like magic. I guess this problem is very pervasive. EVER. The cloudy discolorations haven’t returned. There are now white steam marks ALL OVER IT from this ironing technique described above–iron on medium, thin towl, steam. I’ve been looking for a tablecloth or other way to hide the two large white stains on my table. What I took out the second leaf, I realized that I should have stopped to take that picture. I didn’t use steam just dry heat! this def works!! Same as a lot of other comments .Hot chinese dishes and hot tea left directly on table caused a lot of white stains . I just bought a teak dining table (veneer) off of Craigslist for a steal. Cannot thank whoever sent this tip in enough. I just now found this tip about the iron on your website and tried it. There were also some watermark rings caused by setting cups and glasses directly on the surface. OMG! This website or its third-party tools uses cookies to personalize content, ads/promotions & analyze traffic patterns to better develop useful content, navigation & overall user experience. I was skeptical about this but OMG it worked. I used the cloth with high heat and no steam…worked liked magic. I can’t thank you enough for these ‘words of wisdom’!!! To avoid gouging and scratching the wood, hold the scraper almost level (horizontal) with the veneer. I spread a tablespoon of mayonnaise over/on a white circle on my antique walnut stained table a few hours ago. Got a little too hot and/or damp and a bit of paper towel stuck into the finish (didn’t have a white cloth towel handy) — got that off with toothpaste, and olive oil (didn’t have mineral oil or furniture polish around) over the entire panel and it’s looking as good as I’ve ever seen it. This REALLY works! I tried several products to try to fix it. I’m so excited. Thank you so much. My daughter placed pizza boxes on my beautiful oak table. I rubbed a little olive oil on it after and it looks perfect! By golly it worked though. This is so amazing! Hallelujah it worked. Today, I quickly found your tip and it removed much of the stain. We just bought a Bermex table with a birch top, arguably the nicest furniture we have in our home. My husband still can’t believe it. I tried thin towel, medium heat and steam, it worked for a half hour to an hour but the white haze came back. What a relief! I tried the mayo first and that didn’t work, then I tried the iron and worked like a charm. Worked great. Now, about the red nail polish I splashed across my buffet when I dropped it….anyone? Not that you need another vote, but YEA! Hot pots on multiple kitchen towels left white patches. We put a hot casserole on a braided fabric trivet on my antique buffet. “Oh, because I read it on the internet…”. The steamed towel followed by rubbing vegetable oil over desired area worked miracles. Have just tried this tip and it is amazing – we’ve had a pine coffee table that has looked very scruffy with loads of white stains which thanks to you, are now gone and the table restored back to its former glory. Thank you! Using the steam on the iron worked perfect. But, alas, more hot food on a paper plate (with 12 relatives staying over for the weekend…) and a large 10″ diameter ring was near the center of the table… Gave the steam a whirl with my kitchen towel and it worked amazingly well. I put olive oil all over the table, wrapped the iron in an old white cotton cloth, on a low heat and ironed the table directly. The spot is still there and I don’t know what to do. It’s like magic!! First thing I did the next mornign was try the trick with the dry iron and white cloth. Used the tip on 14 June 2009 and it worked immediately! Try a little mineral spirits on a soft white cloth. This was the first website that came up. I have tried it with no steam, on the towel, not on the towel, I have rubbed off any condensation from the steam, etc., etc. It just took a few seconds for the small glass ring and a bit longer for the dish outline…but both are gone! It worked like magic. The second mark made me think the days of the whole lot were numbered. I can’t believe this actually worked. Our babysitter didn’t know better and put her mug fresh from the microwave on to our dining room table – and sure enough, it left a very visible white circle. It is a Skovby and Danish. We had a Louis XV dark oak dining table with three white marks. You couldn’t tell where the spot was now. Thank you SO MUCH. IT WORKED! We then raised the tea towel and dried it quickly. I had purchased multiple waxes and cleaners recommended on other websites. I just used a basic white towel, with the iron held slightly over top it, and pressed steam about 6x… AMAZING! Very skeptical, but worked great. I ironed slowly over a towel on high heat WITH steam and then wiped up the table with vegetable oil and its PERFECT. Used the olive oil too neat and its lovely. i feel like throwing the whole new table out. These forums are such a great place to find valuable information! I thought I had ruined to finish. Made a lot worse.Did try mayonnaise first. The spots came up but the finish looked a little dull at first. You are my hero!! Thanks a bunch. We are not ready with one child and another on the way to refinish the table it seems like a wasted effort and are glad that this worked because the table is beautiful and we want to enjoy it. I have a beautiful black table and the white spots seem to have appeared after some oil was used ont he table and then a hot/moist plate was set on it. I guess it’s time for a new kitchen table.