Setting Fire to Furniture...On Purpose

Ever since Dan worked in a furniture re-finishing shop during our illustrious college years, he has wanted to try this "method" he learned for taking out water damage on wood. You know, the white ring you get when you leave a glass of ice water on wood.

Our cheap homeschool table we bought off Craigslist is the first piece of furniture on which I have wanted to see his method in action, and that's only because I am recovering the top with dry erase material so burn marks would not matter.

Exhibit A: The large water mark

Method: Pour Lighter Fluid onto the stain. Light it on fire. Have small children observe so that they will know it's okay to set furniture on fire, on purpose. I can just hear it, "But Dad did it!"

Exhibit B: By golly, it works! We did not waste the lighter fluid to finish because we knew we would be sanding anyways. But no joke, it works. 

So being the, um, trusting wife I am, who has never muttered, "Not on your life" when Dan has offered to try this method on our real furniture, as soon as I saw that this worked I humbly begged excitedly asked him to please take out water marks on, well, just about every piece of furniture we own.

By the way...Never pay a furniture refinishing shop exorbitant quantities of money for, actually for anything. Call Dan. He will set fire to your furniture for the cost of lighter fluid. He will distress your perfectly good furniture for you if you like that look (really, they just use the backside of a hammer). And he will not tell you something is an antique just so he can charge you more. He got quite the education at that shop.