How to remove incorrect Old English Scratch Remover from wood

6 years ago

We used some Old English Scratch Remover for Light Wood, however, didn't read the label carefully enough to realize this DOES NOT work on blonde colored woods. Subsequently, the scratches in our blonde-colored wood floors are darkened due to the Old English.

Any ideas on how to fix/remedy this?

Featured Answer

kudzu9

6 years ago

Here's the problem: those look like moderately deep scratches caused by dragging furniture on the floor and having it cause gouging. When that happens, the wood fibers get crushed and torn and, as a result, take up a lot of stain when you apply additional finish. I learned this the hard way, too. My advice is to live with it and not try to undo what's happened. Otherwise, you may mess up the existing stain in the vicinity, and make a small-ish problem into a bigger one.

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Comments (6)

lindac92
6 years ago
It's a stain.....like you use to stain wood before varnishing. Try mineral spirits on a cloth and wipe well.
You may have to end up covering it with a lighter stain or perhaps some dilute paint.
DavidR
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
IF the finish is moisture resistant (and I hope it is), I'd try dampening a paper towel with bleach and laying it over the scratches for a few minutes. Wipe with plain water a few times and allow to dry.

No guarantees, I haven't actually tried this, but I totally would in your place. :)

I love bleach. It's such a useful liquid.

Next time, you might try Howard Restore-a-Finish in the neutral (lightest) shade. I used to be a big fan of Old English, but I've switched to Restore-a-Finish for the wider range of shades (9 of them). I don't remember what the blue big box store has, but the orange one only carries a few shades. A real hardware store will usually have the full range. You can also find all the shades online.
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G & S Floor Service
6 years ago
You can fix it with colored wax sticks. You will need two or three colors to match all the variation and graining. It's an art, it is not the easiest thing to do. $150 for an hour of work.
SJ McCarthy
6 years ago
Old English furniture polish (which this is) lists this product as an oil. It is possible/probable that you can leave it alone and the oil will eventually disappear with normal cleaning methods (hardwood floor cleaner such as Bona, Loba, Polywhey Cleaner, etc). Even a 'drop of dawn' soap in 1 gallon of water would do it.

As mentioned above, a bit of bleach (5% solution on wood is about as exciting as you want to get) *might do it.

If I'm correct and this is a temporary 'oil' then a mild degreaser (such as Windex original) can get rid of this stuff. I would be VERY cautious when using ANYTHING other than a wood floor cleaner.

Personally I would dampen a clean cloth with the Windex and then LIGHTLY DAB at a bit of the dark colour. I would check the clean cloth to see if there is any 'old english' that is coming up. If it is, I would continue to be very gentle with the removal.

And for the record, these 'oil' based products can cause damage to wood floors to the point where they may not be refinished in the future. That would be a TERRIBLE upset to someone who just wanted to make their floors look 'a little better'.

You currently have a CLEAR finish over the wood. To get rid of the LOOK of nasty scratches (from dragging things across the floor), you can work with a FINISH pen. Yep. Home Depot, etc carries many versions of Finish pens. These are pen-like containers filled with URETHANE. You use them like a stain-pen...except there is zero colour. All you have to do is match the gloss level of your floor and voila you have a 'cure' for damaged finish.

And the good thing about finish-pens is: they do NOT damage the wood nor cause any issues with future refnishing. Anything 'oil' (ahem...Murphy's Oil Soap, oil soap of any kind, 'eco' cleaners of any kind, etc, etc, etc) can and will contaminate the WOOD underneath to the point that future refinishing *could be made impossible.
cherioberry
5 years ago
My daughter encountered this same problem trying to touch up scratches on her floor a couple of weeks ago. Did you find a fix that worked or did the color change fade with time?