Rings Of Doom

Don’t despair of ringmarks on your furniture, advises Stephen Simmons.

- Stephen Simmons

It’s a curious thing but I’ve never met anybody who admits to making a white ring mark – it’s always somebody else’s fault. The usual candidates are ‘my husband’ or ‘my wife’. But that’s not the main problem. They are made by leaky vases and hot, wet mugs and are therefore left on conspicuous horizontal surfaces. Regardless of the culprit, there’s no getting away from them. 

Rings are caused by moisture being trapped in the polish, but not in the wood. They are therefore superficial and, despite being disfiguring, are surprisingly easy to tackle. But don’t expect miracles. Depending on the type of polish and depth of penetration a vestige of the mark often remains and you may have to accept something less than perfect. And there’s plenty of scope for creating an even bigger problem.

How bad is it?

It’s critical to establish the type of polish used on the work piece before you start, otherwise things can go horribly wrong. I use two broad categories: the soft vulnerable ones and hard robust ones. The soft ones are all waxes when used alone and the less durable oils, while the hard are all modern lacquers and varnishes, polyurethane, cellulose and back to French polish.

So, what to do? If the surface is badly defaced with multiple rings, stripping and repolishing is a realistic option but for the odd mark it’s worth using less desperate measures.