Removing Ink from a Table

By Patsfan from Lebanon, MO

Archives: Request: Removing Ink from a Table Archived on 04/14/2009 How can I remove ink from my wood breakfast table? The wood is a light brown color. Onesummer Feedback: RE: Removing Ink from a Table Thank you for the tip about the baking soda. My daughter wrote on our computer desk with a ballpoint pen and the baking soda took it right off. I'm so amazed. Thanks! (02/28/2007) By Tina RE: Removing Ink from a Table Hairspray on a q-tip (cotton swab) worked wonders for my dresser, none of the finish was removed. Rubbing the hairspray soaked q-tip on the spot and then wiping with water as a safety measurement did its job. (04/08/2007) By Cassue RE: Removing Ink from a Table Baking Soda! (04/27/2007) By shaylee RE: Removing Ink from a Table Thank goodness for this website and the internet. The baking soda mixed w/ warm water took ball point pen right out of my butcher block island top. Thank you for the tip - what a lifesaver. Now I don't have to freak out if my 2 year old does this again (but hopefully he won't). (04/30/2007) By Margot Removing felt-tip Ink from a Table I used the water + baking soda and it worked perfectly, removing green felt-tip ink from a cherry table. I recommend making a slurring of the baking soda and water and using your finger to rub off the ink. No damage to the table. It only took a few minutes to remove several ink lines. No need to use alcohol, just the water. Good luck. (06/19/2007) By Ronn RE: Removing Ink from a Table Absolutely incredible! Baking Soda took an entire ink pin that my 4 yr old opened, off my oak desk without damaging the finish too badly. It was solid ink about 4 inches by 4 inches wide. After making a mess of it with rubbing alcohol I found this site and to my astonishment it worked, well. Thank you so much for this tip! P.S. If you do make a mess with the rubbing alcohol, clean the mess up with the baking soda first then go back over the haze with rubbing alcohol and it'll look like new. (06/24/2007) By Daniel RE: Removing Ink from a Monitor Hair spray works! Thanks Adam. Our monitor also suffered an ink attack from a two-year-old and some hair spray and a q-tip took it off without any trouble. This also works for leather, which is why I had the hairspray in the first place, but I never dreamed of trying it on a monitor. (07/25/2007) By Ashley RE: Removing Ink from a Table Baking Soda Wins! Just made a paste of it, put it on a finished oak stool top with ball point pen all over it. Rubbed the baking soda mix with my finger, all ink was removed. Excellent! (07/28/2007) By Nick P. RE: Removing Ink from a Table I just bought a brand new cherry desk for my office, and a ball point pen leaked into a puddle on the wood. I first treated it with hairspray, and the small spots came off. Next I tried a baking soda paste and wiped it off with vodka, and it came off. (08/23/2007) By Shelby RE: Removing Ink from a Table Baking soda worked. My son is getting into all the pens and drawing on everything. I work at home and am an artist so drawing I don't discourage, but on the furniture? No way. He drew on our coffee table and our dinner table. Both cherry wood and the pen came right out. Thank you. My wife will be very happy. (09/20/2007) By Jim RE: Removing Ink from a Table Baking Soda. We had our 2 year old daughter's daily report card from day care sitting on our brand new $2,000 wood dining room table. Water spilled on the card causing the hot pink dye to stain the table. After rubbing it with everything and getting no results, I found this post and Baking soda saved the day. Cold water, Baking soda and some rubbing with a paper towel. With in a few minutes everything was gone. Thanks everyone for the posts! (09/26/2007) By Jeff H RE: Removing Ink from a Table Thanks for the feedback everyone. This worked like a charm. We had a ballpoint pen explode spontaneously on our dining room table. After trying a few household cleaners that did nothing I found this. Thanks again! (10/27/2007) By Mike K RE: Removing Ink from a Table I tried using baking soda and rubbing alcohol but it did not work. I do not know what kind of wood this is but, it's not coming out. I need help. (12/07/2007) By vanessa RE: Removing Ink from a Table Baking soda and water worked. I had an ink stain that leaked from a bag on the table. The table was a very light finish. I tried everything, but nothing worked. Then I found this site and tried the baking soda and water...wow, thanks guys! (12/16/2007) RE: Removing Ink from a Table The baking soda saved my desk from a broken pen that had been sitting there for an entire day. It took a lot of rubbing with paper towels, but after fifteen minutes it came off. The finish was hurt a little bit. (12/18/2007) By lucky man RE: Removing Ink from a Table Have you tried toothpaste? it works like a charm! (12/20/2007) By Natasha D RE: Removing Ink from a Table Baking soda worked really well when removing pen's ink from the table. Thank you for advice. (12/24/2007) By Alec RE: Removing Ink from a Table I wouldn't have believed it. I had a small spot and tried alcohol which made the spot huge, and baking soda removed all like new, amazing! (01/06/2008) By Rez RE: Removing Ink from a Table Baking soda worked on felt tip pen marks on light wood. Thank you (01/29/2008) By bray RE: Removing Ink from a Table Amazing! Thank You. Ball Point pen scribbled on my light Alder wood dining table is magically removed with water, a paper towel and baking soda. Who woulda' thought? (02/01/2008) By Kathy RE: Removing Ink from a Table I used baking soda toothpaste and it was remarkably effective. (02/20/2008) By Al RE: Removing Ink from a Table Exploding pen on a white wooden table - I used every cleaning product I had - which just spread the ink, but then came across this website - the baking soda worked! Thank you so much for the tip. (02/24/2008) By Fiona D RE: Removing Ink from a Table This just worked on ball point pen ink on an Ikea coffee table -- baking soda and water and a little scrubbing. Brilliant. (03/31/2008) By sp RE: Removing Ink from a Table I tried the baking soda on an old red ink stain (done with stamping ink) and it did not remove it. I tried scrubbing it in for at least 5 mins and nothing came out. Does it have to be a fresh stain? I also tried the toothpaste and that didn't work either. (04/27/2008) RE: Removing Ink from a Table My 3 year old son wrote on my oak night stand and dresser. I tried the baking soda and it did not work. If you have any other advice please let me know. (04/30/2008) By Desiree N. RE: Removing Ink from a Table I tried baking soda with water and it didn't work. What is the another solution? (06/16/2008) By Worried RE: Removing Ink from a Table Thank you so much. I spilled ink on my parents' table and they would have killed me if they found out. I tried every stain remover in my house then found this. I used the water and Baking soda and that got most of it off, then I used tooth paste and a paper towel and that made it disappear. Thank you so much. (06/18/2008) By Robert RE: Removing Ink from a Table I just had this same thing happen to me. I tried toothpaste and it worked! I was so relieved. (07/13/2008) By manda RE: Removing Ink from a Table Bicarbonate of Soda worked like magic! (07/13/2008) By Sceptical RE: Removing Ink from a Table I got permanent ballpoint pen ink all over my sister's $3,500 white desk. A toothbrush and lots of toothpaste took it off in 30 minutes. (07/21/2008) By Pezzz RE: Removing Ink from a Table Thank you so much for the toothpaste advice. It was incredible, crisis averted! (07/21/2008) By Rowan RE: Removing Ink from a Table Just tried the baking soda with a tiny bit of water on a paper towel and it took off the black ink from a leaking ballpoint pen. You just saved my new cherry wood coffee table. Thanks so much for this idea..I never would have thought it was possible. (07/26/2008) By Mrs. Z. RE: Removing Ink from a Table I had some black ink from a stamp pad that had gotten on corian countertops and had sat for several hours. I tried everything and then tried Soft Scrub Deep Clean and a scotch brite pad - stain is gone, whew! (07/28/2008) By sally RE: Removing Ink from Distressed cabinets I absolutely freaked out when my two year old drew on my newly distressed cabinets with an ink pen. I used the baking soda with a toothbrush and it came right off. Thank Goodness I will not have to show her dad. (08/08/2008) By Chrissy RE: Removing Ink from a Table Baking soda was amazing. Thank you so much. Now my mother won't kill me! (08/10/2008) RE: Removing Ink from a Table Wow, Toothpaste is the winner. I guess having baking soda in it really helps. Make sure you use plenty of toothpaste and scrub for at least a few minutes. (08/21/2008) By Chris RE: Removing Ink from a Table Thank you, thank you for the baking soda advice. You just saved my life, literally! Lol (08/30/2008) By Jade. RE: Removing Ink from a Table Thanks so much for the baking soda tip for getting out ink stains on wood-- my floor looks like new even after the stain sat overnight! (09/11/2008) RE: Removing Ink from a Table People who made this site rock. You guys saved my life because my girlfriend would have killed me for spilling ink on her table, thanks! (09/24/2008) RE: Removing Ink from a Table My son drew on his oak toy chest with a ballpoint pen. I tried the baking soda technique and it didn't work. The pen marks are kind of engraved in, maybe that's why. I also tried the magic eraser and also toothpaste, no luck with those either. If anyone has any more ideas please let me know. Thank you. (10/21/2008) By Lacey RE: Removing Ink from a Table Honestly, the tooth paste did a little bit, baking soda nothing, and nail polish remover took it right off. (11/05/2008) By Fenella. RE: Removing Ink from a Table The nail polish remover worked. Thank you so much. (11/09/2008) By Saved Me! RE: Removing Ink from a Table I had a pen break and dump ink all over the wood dining table I had inherited. Thanks for the advice. I used a wet paper towel and baking soda and scrubbed it right off. Amazing! (11/15/2008) By Keri R. RE: Removing Ink from a Table I tried toothpaste, and it pretty much took all the stain away. I tried a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol, and it went away. (11/30/2008) By debby RE: Removing Ink from a Table The baking soda worked, but it also took the finish off our rustic furniture. I think sandpaper would have been as equally effective. (12/05/2008) By Kris RE: Removing Ink from a Table I just bought a used Ikea Gutvik bunk bed (light wood) and it had green crayon heavily scribbled on it in one spot, and a little girl's name carved in black ball point pen on another spot. I was going to use baking soda to remove the pen, since it seems to have the highest success rate based on everyone's feedback. Turns out that I'm actually out of baking soda, so I turned to toothpaste since that worked for others. My toothpaste happened to have baking soda in it (Tom's of Maine Natural Fluoride Free Peppermint), and it got the pen out very, very well. The only spots that still seem to remain visible are marks from the pen that are too deep to rub off. Rubbing the toothpaste onto the wood with a dry paper towel and some elbow grease took the pen right off. I'd say the writing is about 90% removed, as I can still see her name in the wood, but WHAT a difference. It looks so much better. And the toothpaste didn't affect the finish at all, as far as I can tell. Also, for the crayon, mayonnaise worked wonders (got that from another post about removing crayon from wood). I suppose it's the oil and the vinegar combination that does the trick. I let it sit for a few minutes, as was recommended, and rubbed it with a dry wash cloth. No more crayon and the wood looks great! Thanks for everyone's suggestions and experiences! Attached is an "after" picture of the ball point pen taken with my cell phone (I didn't take a "before" picture unfortunately). (12/21/2008) By Rose RE: Removing Ink from a Table Thank you so much! We rent and my 2 year old wrote all over the cabinets with an ink pen. I tried everything and then I looked on the internet and saw that you guys said to try toothpaste - who would think, but it worked! I thought I was going to cry, so thanks for taking the time to put good info up! (01/15/2009) By Sunder Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Ballpoint Pen Ink from Table Archived on 02/20/2007 How do I safely remove ball point pen ink from a oak table? My daughter scribbled on our oak end table. Is there a way I can remove it without removing or harming the finish? Debbie52 from IL Answers: Baking Soda Thanks so much! I used baking soda with water rubbed in with my finger & then rubbed the wet area with a cloth with vodka on it - it removed my 2 year old's drawing done in felt pen (texter) that had already dried on our timber dining table. (08/27/2006) By Tony Baking Soda and Alcohol We recently purchased a new wooden desk for our son. He decided to draw a picture using a King Size permanent black Sharpie. It bled right through the paper and we didn't know about it until a day or two later. We tried everything we could think of to remove these stains without harming the finish. I have to say that the baking soda + rubbing alcohol did the job. The finish was slightly affected but you can't tell unless you look very hard. I tried dipping cotton swabs into alcohol and then into the baking soda and rubbing. This did okay but it worked even faster when I used my index finger instead of the q-tip. After I was finished I went back over it with furniture polish and it looks great! (11/13/2006) By J McBride Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Ballpoint Pen Ink from Table Archived on 03/14/2003 I am trying to remove ballpoint ink from kitchen table that is either white wood or white corian? What should I use not to destroy the white finish of the table? Linda Answers: - - 03/18/2003 Readers always say that hairspray is the best thing to remove ball point pen. I don't think that would destroy your top but you could try it first in an out of the way place to make sure. Also rubbing baking soda into it with your finger is a safe option. I'll post this to the site and see if anyone else has any ideas. Best Wishes, Susan By Thrifty_Fun - - 01/16/2005 Just had this problem with a ballpoint pen that leaked all of its ink onto an oak table top. It had been there for at least 48 hours before we discovered the mess. Read your feedback above and choose to go with Bold. I put it on and let it soak for 5 minutes before rubbing off. It took 4 applications but it ALL came off. Be careful to not rub so hard as to remove the finish. I did not, but came close. By Cary Anthony (Guest Post) - - 11/13/2005 When I got blue ball point ink on my father's new desk I looked on this website and tried baking soda, then experimented a little and added methylated spirits (rubbing alcohol) to it and the stain is nearly invisible. Thanks By Sam (Guest Post) Removing "Sharpie" Permanent Marker from dark wood table 11/29/2005 I suggest to you use baking soda alone with a drop of water on affected area. Rub it with cloth, it really works! I just removed the ink on my dark wood table today. By Lea (Guest Post) - - 12/04/2005 I just used baking soda with a little water and rubbed the ink spot with my finger and out it came off of my new oak table. It worked for the green marker that was on the table also! My kids were doing their Christmas cards when they got ink and marker on the table. I found this site as nothing else I tried would get the marks out. And I can't believe how the baking soda worked! I am so lucky I found this website. Have a Merry Christmas! By Kaitlyn (Guest Post) - - 12/11/2005 Thank you for all your help. I thought our $5000 Corian countertop was ruined when my 4 year old daughter took a "Sharpie" permanent marker to the countertop. Well after trying everything other than sanding it down, I saw the suggestion here about Baking Soda. It really did the trick. There isn't even a hint of the marker left now. Thanks again. By Hunt (Guest Post) Removing kids paint from the dining room table 12/14/2005 I am in dire need of a solution on how to remove this paint from my dining room table. It looks like I started to rub a little too hard and I don't want the varnish to come off. Any suggestions? By Lisa (Guest Post) - - 12/15/2005 Lisa- It depends on what type of paint is on the table. If it's a kid-type paint, like tempera or basic finger paints, plain old soap and water should take it up. It may require some elbow grease and time. Or you could try a multipurpose cleaner, I love the Fantastic OxyPower, it's nontoxic and pretty cheap and works. I would also try rubbing alcohol, it seems to work on just about everything ink or paint related. If it's an oil based paint nothing but a paint remover will take up the stains and that will remove the varnish. If its an older table you may just be getting up all the layers of buildup that seem to accumulate no matter how much we clean and not effecting the varnish at all. And one more bit ... if it's a wood table and older, why not try stripping it and refinishing it when you have the time, we ended up doing that with our bathroom cabinets after the shaving cream my daughter painted on left marks on the 75 year old cherry wood! Good Luck! Rebekah By Madelynnsmama - - 12/20/2005 This is a little off subject but my two year old daughter wrote on my $600 monitor, which has a very delicate surface. I freaked out and went online and read the comment that said use hair spray to remove pen ink and it worked perfectly. I thought for sure it was ruined but the hair spray took it right off with no damage to the surface at all. Not sure if it would work on a table but I wanted to say THANKS! By adam (Guest Post) - - 12/24/2005 My daughter used some sort of ink to paint her toy and some got on oak kitchen table. I tried using oxy clean with orange but didn't get 100% - then used baking soda with warm water and it worked. By DB (Guest Post) - - 01/07/2006 My son drew with ballpoint pen on caramel color maple desk. Tried WD40, no luck. Tried hairspray, no luck. Then read advice here and used baking soda. I put baking soda in small bowl with a little warm water. I dipped my finger in bottom of bowl and used my finger to put on baking soda and GENTLY wipe off pen. By Erin (Guest Post) - - 01/28/2006 Wow, just have to say thank you for the great baking soda tip. My husband was furious at himself for allowing a wet magazine to stain our lovely dining room table, but warm water and baking soda took it right off. He's so relieved. By longrunner (Guest Post) - - 02/19/2006 Hairspray was the only thing that worked and completely removed without effort, also left furniture in perfect condition. By B Saxon (Guest Post) - - 03/28/2006 My three year old son wrote on our brand new cherry kitchen table with a ballpoint pen. Hairspray didn't work, but the baking soda took it right off! I was completely amazed and very happy. Thanks for the great tip! By Dianna (Guest Post) - - 04/12/2006 THANK YOU SO MUCH for the tip about baking soda! My son drew on our monitor and computer desk with a black sharpie and the baking soda took it all off. By Stacey (Guest Post) Report Spam or Abuse