Removing oil spots from timber

[Lance Reid]

Hi all, have been sanding a slab of swamp kauri with an air sander, the air has had a bit of oil and water residue come through and left spots on the timber.
Short of re planing the slab, is there an easier way of removing the spots? I've given it a wipe wth acetone and has made a slight improvement. Cheers.

[AlexS]

It will probably depend on what the best solvent for the oil is. You've tried acetone, which is probably the best first attempt. You could also try turps, meths, white spirits. It may help to cover the area with kitty litter to help absorb the solvent and the oil.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

As Alex has said, it depends on the best solvent. I would suggest using a very light mineral solvent like dry-cleaning fluid or white spirit. That works well for removing oil from cutting boards and other timber.

What are you going to final finish with? I would avoid turps unless the final finish is turps compatible.

[Lance Reid]

Think the oil soaked into the sawdust when sanding, leaving a faded stain, seems to be getting fainter with more sanding.
Looking at having an epoxy resin finish.

[ian]

Hi Lance

what you could try is making a bicarbonate soda poultice.

I've had great success using them to remove stains from stone bench tops and bathroom floors.

What I've done is mix the bicarb with just enough water to just make it "clag" and then place over the stain. leave the poultice for a day or so to "pull" the stain and then it scrap up. Usually the poultice will wick the stain away first go. For oil you might try using turps as the solvent -- BUT take care, I'm not sure of the chemistry when turps and bicarb are mixed.

[Arron]

Deck cleaner will clean just about anything off.

Cheers
Arron

[Christos]

I like the bicarbonate soda option and would try it dry or with little bit of water, similar to what you would do for carpet that has a stain.

As I have not tried this I might suggest to do a test piece.

[Lance Reid]

Managed to sand the spots out, thanks for the suggestions.

[Christos]

Managed to sand the spots out, thanks for the suggestions.

Cool.

[Lance Reid]

Did another piece, white spirits seems to lift the stains, with copious sanding.