Saving old dirty wood with soap

Sara Idenfors



This is what you need

The starting point – this is how heavily soiled the table is from the beginning



We have been entrusted to try to save an old wooden table that has been heavily and severely soiled for many years. You need:

  • Superfatted soap
  • Warm water
  • Scrubbing brush with coarse bristles, preferably a union mixture
  • Cloth



  1. Wet the surface with warm water and plenty of fatty soap.
  2. Scrub in the direction of the wood grain
  3. Let the soap remain on the wood if the stains/dirt do not come off immediately
  4. Wipe off
  5. To treat, scrub or wipe with cold water and soap. Let it dry and repeat if necessary. For each repetition, the surface becomes softer and more comfortable.



A garage is good to have if you cannot stay outdoors. Note the floor!
Wipe away the dirt that seeps up and check if you need to scrub again in the same area.
Change water as needed and remember that warm water is needed to clean deeply, cold water is used for treatment.
This is what the white cloth looks like after the first scrubbing.
Here is the table now, clean and nice but without the thick and greasy dirt
Before and after
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