Could You Use Mayonnaise?

Mayonnaise is a condiment with several uses. It excels as a salad dressing, without a preparation of deviled eggs or tuna salad would be the same without it. Real mayonnaise may also be a furniture cleaner and polish. You would not reach for it to clean scuff marks or eliminate a coating of yellowish wax, but if the finish has turned cloudy, a jar of vegetable oil-rich mayonnaise may be just the remedy you need.

Cloudy Finishes

Nitrocellulose lacquer is one of the most frequent wood finishes, also it does not perform well in the presence of moisture. If the atmosphere is humid when lacquer has been applied, the finish can turn cloudy, a state that finishers telephone”blushing.” This happens because moisture gets trapped under the top layer of the finish as it hardens. A lacquer finish can turn cloudy even after it heals if moisture penetrates the surface layer. Moisture causes the white rings that mar the finish when you leave a teapot or liquid-filled cup on a table.

Mayonnaise to the Rescue

One of the main components is vegetable oil, also it is the ingredient that makes mayonnaise an effective remedy for water marks and cloudiness. When you let oil to stand on a moisture-damaged complete, it seeps through the surface and slowly displaces the water also eliminates the cloudiness. Spreading mayonnaise on a moisture-damaged finish is more powerful than distributing oil — oil immediately melts away, whereas, mayonnaise has enough consistency to stay moist. This is important, because the petroleum needs time to penetrate the finish and do its own job.

How to Utilize Mayonnaise

To get rid of a water stain from any furniture finish, just spread a generous coating of mayonnaise with a spatula and allow it to sit for several hours — preferably overnight. When you wipe it off, the stains should have vanished. To keep your pets from feasting on what smells and looks like a yummy treat, cover the mayonnaise with a paper towel or paper. The oil penetrates better if you scatter smoke or wood ash on the stain and rub it in with a cloth before implementing the mayonnaise.

The Limitations of Mayonnaise

The components in mayonnaise — oil, lemon juice and juice — make it a fantastic furniture polish. Mayonnaise isn’t any substitute for a detergent if you’ve got to clean dirt and grime from your own furniture, however, nor can you use it instead of mineral spirits to remove wax buildup. Similarly, mayonnaise is an ineffective treatment for water stains that have penetrated the finish and stained the wood. These stains, which are normally dark instead of white or gray, often need bleaching; to effectively bleach wood and take out the stains completely, you must strip the finish.

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