I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?


TIA

wrote:

I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?


TIA


Ingredient in some rust removers.

wrote in message
...

I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalic_acid

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

On Sep 10, 6:23*am, " wrote:
I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?

TIA

Sherwin williams has it, but I dont think it will work.

On Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:23:34 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?


TIA

Some deck cleaners are oxalic acid. There's usually the bleach based
cleaners and then the oxalic acid based cleaners and then the lye
based cleaners. Read the labels to get the right one.

If the floor has any kind of finish on it, all bets are off as to what
will happen.

-dickm

On Wed 10 Sep 2008 05:07:47a, Norminn told us...

wrote:

I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?


TIA


Ingredient in some rust removers.


Barkeeper's Friend contains oxalic acid. You could make a slurry of it
with water. It is also slightly abrasive. It will take dark stains out of
wooden countertops. Of course, whatever course you try, you will most
likely have to refinish those areas. Most any product will damage the top
finish to get at the stain.

--
Wayne Boatwright

*******************************************
Date: Wednesday, 09(IX)/10(X)/08(MMVIII)
*******************************************
Countdown till Veteran's Day
8wks 5dys 18hrs 3mins
*******************************************
When you're having a bad day and it
seems like people are trying to ****
you off, just remember: It takes

On Sep 10, 7:23*am, " wrote:
I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?

TIA

You can get it at Ace Hardware.

On Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:23:34 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?


TIA

If you want almost pure oxalic acid, get Savogran Wood Bleach. Here is a
link to the MSDS:
http://www.savogran.com/Information/Wood_Bleach_MS.pdf

I have a True Value hardware store. The True Value stock number is 602979.
I'm sure it's available at other hardware stores, also.

As others have noted, this might not work for what you are trying to do.

But it's probably worth a try.

wrote:
I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.
....

I suspect they do have it; just the flunky you ran into didn't know what
it was. It'll be in the paint department w/ the strippers, etc.

Look for "wood renewers" or similar type of words.

As someone else said, many of the deck cleaners HD sells are o-acid
based--we used one from there by the 5-gal bucket-load on the old barn
altho I don't recall the particular brand.

Ace or any paint store or decent hardware store will have the crystals
as well which normally is more cost-effective altho for small amounts
you're not going to care too much.

As for the application, be very careful--it's a very strong bleaching
agent and while it'll help on the water stains, it'll bleach the wood,
too. I would _strongly_ suggest finding a closet or other inconspicuous
area of the same flooring and making a practice run there before
attacking the main floor or you may discover you have a worse-looking
white spot to try to match than the existing stain leading to a full
floor resanding...

--

On Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:23:34 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?


TIA

I don't think this is a good idea for wood. If it does remove the
water stain, it will leave unsightly marks. Have you tried
mayonnaise? If that doesn't work, a refinishing floor job is in your
future.

wrote:
I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I
would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to
approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me
like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?

Look for "wood bleach" but be sure to read the ingredients before you
buy to make sure it's based on oxalic acid and not something else.

If you can't find it in a hardware store or big box, try a paint store
(i.e. one that sells only paint and painting supplies, not a hardware
store that also incidentally sells paint).

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Sep 10, 6:23*am, " wrote:
I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?

TIA

Common ingredient in automotive radiator flush. HTH

Joe

wrote in message
...
I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?


TIA

Hello,

Oxalic Acid can be found as the active ingredient in many deck cleaners.
Just read the label. You might also be able to find Oxalic Acid crystals in
a good paint or hardware store. It is also found in single component "Wood
Bleach". Again, read the label.

You will have to strip off the remaining finish above the water stains
so you can apply the acid, as a concentrated Water solution. The problem
you are going to have is that in addition to removing the black stains, it
will lighten the wood just enough to make it obviously different. That
means stripping off enough of the finish and treating a large enough area
such that you can make the change in color occur at a visually natural place
on the floor.

If you use Oxalic Acid, let it dry over night and don't let any people
or pets touch it or eat it. It's fairly toxic. After it has dried and
assuming the floor doesn't need a second treatment, wipe it up with a damp
rag. The solid will make you sneeze big time so don't dry brush it off the
floor. Dry brushing will just sweep the smallest particles into the air.
Go over the floor with a Water solution of Borax to neutralize any residual
acid. Wipe down the Borax dampened floor with some fresh rags, let the
floor dry, and you are good to go.

Good Luck.

Phisherman wrote:
On Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:23:34 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:


I have some dark water stains on my hardwood oak flooring that I would
want to remove. I read here that oxalic acid is a good way to approach
this.

The problem is I cannot find any. At Home Depot they looked at me like
I awas from another planet and had never heard of it.

Does it perhaps have another name so I can find some?


TIA


I don't think this is a good idea for wood. If it does remove the
water stain, it will leave unsightly marks. Have you tried
mayonnaise? If that doesn't work, a refinishing floor job is in your
future.
Why would you caution against using it on wood? Oxalic acid is the
"original" wood bleach. In good paint stores it is sold as wood bleach.
It is the best way that I have found to remove iron based stains.
Works well on stainless steel kitchen surfaces too.

Oxalic acid is somewhat toxic. However, that is a matter of how much
you ingest. Oxalic acid is found in small quantities in green, leafy
vegetables like spinach. It's also the precursor of the most common
kidney stones (calcium oxalate.)

"Boden" wrote in message
...

Oxalic acid is somewhat toxic. However, that is a matter of how much you
ingest. Oxalic acid is found in small quantities in green, leafy
vegetables like spinach. It's also the precursor of the most common
kidney stones (calcium oxalate.)

You are correct sir! The amount you could ingest by touching it and
then accidentally putting your fingers to your mouth is significantly
greater than what you would ingest from green, leafy vegetables. The bigger
issue is actually sneezing. You haven't really sneezed until you've gotten
even a little of the dust in your nose.

Good Luck.

Well - just an update to close the loop. I tried some regular bleach
on it and now it really looks like hell. The wood was not originally
stained, just the verothane or whatever giving it a slightly yellowish
oak look with a sheen on it. Now it is white with really dark
blotches. lol

I think I will take the tried and true route and pick up a few squares
of the hardwood - I'll have to trim a bit since the new stuff is
metric and mine is old enuf to be all imperial measurements. I'll just
knock them out and replace and then spot sand to the same level and
touch it up. Has tro look better than it was and is now.....

thanks for the information anyways!