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I just had a pretty bad friday morning coffee spilling experience and the coffee seem to have ruined the surface finish of two of my kitchen chairs:

enter image description here

Either the heat or the acid in the coffee caused this pretty bad spotty whitening within seconds before I dried it away. We have eight of these chairs and are pretty fond of them so I'd like to try to fix it.

However, I don't know what kind of surface finish this is and how I could fix it. It doesn't seem to be oiled but rather some kind of lacquer, shellac or maybe hard wax oil. It's a pretty thin veneer so I don't have too many shots to get it right :)

I thought maybe someone here might have the experience to tell that just by the picture and the description of what caused it…?

Thanks!

Viktor Hedefalk
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    Sorry about the accident! It's impossible to identify a finish from photos. Despite some people's claims it can't be done by appearance! You have to test to rule things in or out. If you do a search you'll find a few Answers with tips on how to (try to) identify the finish type yourself, which might help in how to rectify this. This is fairly typical of water damage to a finish BTW, it very often results in whitening. We also have previous Answers that give some of the usual tricks that might work, but I would advise being pessimistic and expecting none to completely rectify [contd] – Graphus Dec 09 '22 at 12:39
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    ...the problem. If they don't you need to strip back to bare wood and refinish; if this is necessary don't panic, you only need to do the seats and the stripper does all the hard work. After that the refinishing doesn't have to be difficult (although drying times might be a practical hurdle if the kitchen is cold, it won't prevent a successful outcome it will only slow the process down). – Graphus Dec 09 '22 at 12:41
  • Does this answer your question? How do I remove a watermark? – Graphus Dec 09 '22 at 12:46
  • Previous comments are spot on. You can't tell from pictures what the finish is. However, you can figure it out by applying various solvents (in an inconspicuous spot) and see if any lifts/dissolves the finish. Try denatured alcohol and if it lifts, it's shellac. Next try lacquer thinner and if it lifts, it's lacquer. If neither remove any finish, it's probably some type of varnish (polyurethane). Other comment said they appear to be caused by water/moisture getting underneath finish. I agree, but it's tough to tell by photo. I bring this up because there are methods of removing this that don't – Adirondack Jim Jan 06 '23 at 14:59

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