Plant burns wood cabinet

August 1, 2005 2:49 PM

A small round plastic planter has "burned" a white round stain into the rosewood cabinet of my audiophile tower speakers. How did this happen and what can I do? These are one-of-a-kind speakers (no longer produced and very expensive).
posted by omidius to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Go to the library and find a book about restoring antique furniture. There should be some recourse to lessening the stain and lots of instruction on how to mask it. (Sorry, I haven't done this sort of thing in years so I cannot tell you how to do it, but I know there are resources.)
posted by jmgorman at 3:01 PM on August 1, 2005

Sounds like a water ring.

Removing Water Rings or White Haze from Wood Furniture

or

Water Marks

Of course, test all fixes on a hidden area, etc. Perhaps the bottom of one speaker?

And buy some coasters.
posted by 5MeoCMP at 3:03 PM on August 1, 2005

my guess is that the mark isn't water but rather is caused by outgassing from the cheap plastic, so it's probably worth being extra careful about removing the mark -- don't assume that treatment for a water stain will do.

That said, there's the question of whether the stain is in a surface lacquer/varnish over the wood, or is in the wood itself -- outgassing will probably go deep into the wood; for the former, remove and replace the lacquer, for the latter you may be able to re-stain the wood.

I've done some furniture restoration and the method does vary depending on the piece; it's always improvable, but you rarely get the absolute original appearance. At a pinch you could consider reveneering the rosewood over the affected side of the cabinet (it's almost certainly not solid rosewood.) A pro might just reveneer a patch but doing the while side would be least noticable.

You may be better off getting it fixed professionally.
posted by anadem at 4:24 PM on August 1, 2005

After you've got the wood looking nice again, get some thin plexiglas and make some pieces the same size as the speaker tops. It won't hide the wood, but will protect it from any sort of abuse.

You can get the plexi in the window section of any hardware store. Get the thinnest stuff they have. To cut it, score both sides with a ruler and a scratch awl or sharp nail, then put the line on the edge of a desk or counter, clamp it down with a board on top (over the counter), and snap it at the line. Smooth the edges with a file or sandpaper.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:06 PM on August 1, 2005

I bet the mark on your speaker was caused by salt -- which is often the case when plants are watered using tap water. The plants don't like the salt and it is often a bi-product of water that has been filtered through the roots (you'll often find a crusty layer on the outside of a ceramic pot or around the edges of a plastic pot). Salt is one of the main reasons why I never put a pot onto a wood surface.

As far as fixing it, I have no idea what you can do. I would say refinishing is probably your only move.
posted by ebeeb at 5:16 PM on August 1, 2005

I'll also add that if you're truly an audiophile, you won't be using your speakers as plant stands anymore.
posted by cptnrandy at 10:56 AM on August 2, 2005