Alcohol screwed up my finish

[brad hays]

Some years ago I cleaned off this door handle with an alcohol that was too high in % and now I've got this white stain to show for my tomfoolery.

How do I go about correcting this? I'm not sure what the original finish is on the door, but I imagine I need to scuff it up with maybe a yellow green sponge scrubber then do a spray (can) finish on top...aiming for less than a high polish sheen.

Any ideas on correcting this mistake or what spray finish I should use?

Thanks.

door streak.jpg

[Holmes Anderson]

It's difficult to see whether the problem is on top of the finish or under the finish. If it's under the finish, then it is probably moisture because alcohol is hygroscopic. A heat gun can be used to encourage the moisture to migrate back up to the surface. I have used that technique with shellac and long oil varnish over shellac finishes.

[John TenEyck]

The finish on the door might very be shellac. The white streak you now have could have come from the water, or other stuff, that was in the alcohol you used to clean it. Take a Q-tip, dip the end in DNA, and then rub it on the finish in some inconspicuous place, along the hinge edge maybe. If the finish comes off after just a short time, it's shellac. If so, you should be able to remove the damage by wiping it lightly with a soft cloth with DNA or Everclear on it. Lacquer thinner would work, too, but it's more aggressive and will dissolve the shellac faster than DNA will.

If it's not shellac, it could be lacquer or varnish. So, do the same Q-tip test but this time with lacquer thinner. If it comes off, that's what you have. If it doesn't, then you have varnish or some type of catalysed finish.

If it's lacquer you could do the same as with shellac, but with lacquer thinner on the cloth.

Alternatively, you could try any of the water mark removers, Liberon, Homax, etc. Or you could try spraying a mist coat of lacquer thinner on it, observe if it gets lighter. If so, spray a wetter coat, wait and see, repeat if it's getting lighter until it's gone.

I would try these chemical processes before resorting to sanding, scraping.

John

[Rich Engelhardt]

Try putting a few drops of cooking oil on a clean cloth and rubbing it.

If this was 30 years ago, I'd have told you to run out and buy a cheap cigar and use the ashes from it to rub at the stain.

[johnny means]

I'd start with a piece of 0000 steel wool.