deep, dark "stains" on unfinished wood

Varnish and stain are gone from my floor using 3m stripper, however I have a few deep, dark stains that dont seem to come out. Ive used TSP...now I am looking for Oxalic (sp) acid. Id rather not sand it down as this is a 100 year old house and it looks like it could do more damage than good. They might be urine stains but havent a clue. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I used the product Ready Strip to redo my oak kitchen cabinets. They were stained a very dark color and I think it did a good job removing the stain. Though I'm not sure if it is any better than the 3m stripper you used. Maybe someone else has had experience with both products and can determine if the Ready Strip is better.

 

If these stains were under what you removed with the stripper and won't come up even with more stripper and a brush, you may have to live with them. I would give a trial to a chemical stripper even with its fumes to see if it will remove the stains. Just the difference in chemicals from 3M to something akin to strypeeze might be enough to make the final removal.

Even oxalic acid (wood bleach) won't remove everything. There are some things about really old items that must be referred to as character, because they cannot be repaired or removed.

Hope this helps.

 

You could spread urine around entire floor to get it to match?? LOL I am just kidding. I helped a friend redo some wood floors a while back in his ancient house, and the dark stuff we sanded a little more. (just a little more blending to the arreas around the dark spots. It helped and they are not as contrasting as they were. We were using one of those big floor sanding machines that had a huge belt sander on it.

 

there are "two part bleach" products, you can spot bleach "carefully".

you could just paint out the part that is stained too dark.

use a base coat that matches the lightest colour of your wood.

use oil based paint.

then use another colour to match the grain of the wood.
you then paint in the grain.

you can seal in between the base coat and the graining with a
spray can shellac/clear.

that would allow you to have a barrier between, so if you didn't like
the graining you could use paint thinner to wipe it clean and start over
with the graining. after done, clear coat with the shellac/clear
and continue to finish the floor as u would normally.

do not glob the paint on. thin is best

 

Holy cow, I never thought of painting in oil to match the wood. Then staining over it, after it dries. Or would I have to stain around it and seal it. Its worth a try. But I guess if it doesnt work, it does add some character. Thanks for so many helpful ideas.

 

stain the whole floor first then after 24 hrs or once dry, do your
touch up with the oil based paint. let the paint dry before
sealing between base coat and graining.

you can use a hair dryer to dry the touch up paint, just do it from a
distance and not too fast as you could bubble the paint.