How do I get green Sharpie pen off a new cherry wood desk?
Susie from Sammamish, WA
I was babysitting and a boy got permanent marker everywhere on the wooden table. I used a combination of OFF bug spray and a Magic Eraser, the stain was gone in minutes. (10/28/2006)
By Alyssa
Came to this site via Google search because my 4-year old daughter took blue Sharpie to our hardwood floors and furniture. I was not happy. I used OFF (Action/ orange can) and damp sponge. It took the Sharpie off immediately. I sprayed and wiped and not a trace of blue remained. Thanks for the great tip. (10/29/2006)
By Guest
Don't do it, Off has acetone in it and it will strip your finish along with it. It ruined my brand new $1000 table. (10/30/2006)
Kid's Off just worked wonderfully on my dining room table, my son had colored a very beautiful red heart with permanent red marker and left a nice heart outline in the middle of the table. And it did not harm the finish at all. (10/31/2006)
By Jean from NC
Some rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball works great, it removed a pink Sharpie mark off of my white wood desk. (11/05/2006)
By Sam
The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser worked beautifully. Black Sharpie soaked through my daughter's book report onto our oak table. It came off in seconds with very minimal rubbing. No harm to the finish, either. Thanks so much for the tip. (11/16/2006)
By Chris
For those of you who would like to try something that is rather tame compared to OFF and WD 40, try bicarbonate soda. It's a natural abrasive, but very kind to surfaces. My girlfriend used it to remove a permanent marker off an Oak table top. Gone in a few seconds. Paleontologists use it to remove rock matrix from Dinosaur bones by blasting at the bone with an air compressor that shoots out the bicarb. (12/31/2006)
By Greg
The baking soda worked on the blue stain, the alcohol worked on the red stain. It took a combination of the alcohol and the baking soda (soaking together on the floor for about 30 seconds) to out the black Sharpie stain from my polyurethane finished dining room floor. (01/01/2007)
By Angry Mommy
My brother was drawing with permanent marker and it leaked through the paper. I took a regular eraser and rubbed it out like pencil marks. Then I put pledge on top. (03/03/2007)
By Anita C.
Try mineral spirits, you can get it at Lowe's or Home Depot. It works like a charm. (03/27/2007)
By Robyn
Alcohol swabs worked like a charm on the wooden table. (04/09/2007)
By Swathi
I used a combination of baking soda and alcohol. The baking soda provides friction. This method requires elbow grease, but will remove Sharpie from a wood desk.
(06/10/2007)
By Ben
Whoever said use hairspray when they were out of alcohol is brilliant. I would never have thought of that but, it worked super. Thanks. (06/26/2007)
By J.M.
My 5 year old will survive, the Magic Eraser worked and did not mess up the finish of the table. It then went on to clean the handles of my fridge and oven, that I have been try to get white again for years. Before trying to get the stain out of the table, I did try it in a spot just in case of the finish. (07/05/2007)
By Rob
Nail polish remover, works like a charm on wood floors. Just spray a little Pledge after to get the shine back. (08/08/2007)
By Sharie
Thank you so much for the information. My 2 1/2 old daughter got a hold of a blue Sharpie. She wrote all over the computer screen, buttons, computer, mouse, and the wooden desk. I'm so glad my boyfriend had the Magic Eraser. It worked great on getting it off. I would have gotten in trouble, because it is her grandpa's new computer and desk. Thanks a lot, whoever posted it. (08/21/2007)
By mommyof2
Use Lysol to get dye, permanent marker, and other stains out of wood. Now, make sure your furniture is actually real wood or it will spread. It has to have a finish on it. (09/26/2007)
By Paige D.
Please be careful using the Mr. Clean magic eraser. I saw a special the other night where a little child had severe burns to her face, hands and arms from using this product. (11/14/2007)
I just got a bunch of video boxes from eBay, and some of the titles were still on them, written in permanent black marker. I sprayed them with Awesome cleanser and scrubbed a little bit with a washcloth, and the letters came right off.
A couple of years ago, I found a steal on a round, solid oak pedestal table that had orange crayon marks all over the top. I used Awesome on it as well. Awesome is a yellow liquid that comes in an almost-clear plastic spray bottle with red lettering. And, it is awesome as well as non-toxic. I use it for all kinds of things, sometimes direct from the bottle, and sometimes diluted depending on what I'm cleaning. Hope this helps. (12/12/2007)
By Joyce in Southeast OH
Sun Magic worked. My 3 year old put Sharpie permanent marker on our Oak desk. It took my wife about 5 minutes to take that off with Sun Magic and a cloth. Sun Magic did not damage the finish on the desk, and that marker stain is gone. (01/07/2008)
By Ken
Lysol did the trick, after we tried Goo Gone, and Simple Green. Wow, simply amazing. (01/21/2008)
By Louie K.
I was about to beat my kid, (kidding) but our brand new Cherry wood desk got stained. Black Sharpie. Mr.Clean pads took them all out. (03/05/2008)
By Mark
I use Dry-Erase markers to remove permanent marker from any shiny surface. Whatever is in the dry-erase marker eats right through the permanent marker and it just wipes away like Dry-Erase. I always try to use a yellow Dry-Erase marker, so I don't add more color to the problem. I've tried it on finished wood, but I wouldn't recommend it on unfinished wood. (05/26/2008)
By Dianna
My daughter got permanent marker on our cherry table. My wife worked on it for a couple of hours using rubbing alcohol, and this did get a lot of it off, but not all. Eventually we switched to fingernail polish remover (acetone). This did the trick, but a word of caution, as a chemist I've used acetone for cleaning purposes on various items, sometimes with disastrous results, melting plastic, varnish and paint removal, etc. So test it on a small section with a Q-tip. I also think methanol (wood-grain alcohol) would work well and be less stressful to the wood than acetone, but I'm not sure this is available over-the-counter.
(05/28/2008)
By D.Lessen
I just helped my boss's son remove permanent marker from the custom built desk in his Dad's office by combining two of the suggested methods: overwriting with Dry Erase marker and removing it all with a pencil eraser. Thanks. (06/11/2008)
By Melissa B.
I used some Mean Green and a scratchy sponge to remove it off of my Honey Pine Kitchen nook and it did the trick. It left no marks behind and the sponge didn't hurt the finish or anything. (06/24/2008)
By Amy
Another Acetone Story:
I just accidentally got permanent marker all over an unfinished, very porous wood surface. The pencil eraser trick did not work for me. I dribbled acetone on the table, scrubbed it a little with a toothbrush, and then wiped it up with a paper towel. This worked great on this unfinished surface, but I don't know what it would do to varnish. (07/28/2008)
By Stepha
Thank you so much for your post. Staedler permanent marker came off with a Staedler eraser off the dining room table; artwork thanks to my son. Thanks for saving my table. (09/01/2008)
By mom freaking out
Be cautious when using rubbing alcohol to remove marker from wood. My daughter marked with some crayola markers and the erasers didn't work. Desperate to calm a guilt-ridden 3 year old, I used the rubbing alcohol. It worked all right, but now we have streaky discolored cabinetry where the alcohol removed the marker and the wood finish. (10/09/2008)
By Virginia Mom
Orange Glow hardwood floor cleaner works great too. Today my 2 year old son colored all over our hardwood floors with a black Sharpie marker. The Orange Glow got it out perfectly. (10/27/2008)
By stressed mom
The regular eraser worked like a gem to remove laundry marking pen from an Oak table. Thanks, I would have never believed it. (11/10/2008)
By Wendy
My two-year-old drew with a blue Sharpie on our Cherry-wood floors. They have a good finish on them, but the Magic Eraser didn't work, soap and water didn't work. The scrubbing pad didn't work. I even tried a pink eraser (I have no idea why).
The only thing that worked was WD-40. I let it sit for 30 seconds, then rubbed like the devil with paper toweling. (01/10/2009)
By NOTL
This will sound crazy but toothpaste will remove permanent marker from wood. I tried the pink eraser, 409, acetone, rubbing alcohol, you name it, none of them worked, but the toothpaste really did the trick. And it smelled good. I just applied some of my own toothpaste to the marked area and rubbed like wildfire and the marker came off. Try it. (01/25/2009)
By Peri
My 18 month old son thought he would be an artist while I was in the other room, I came into my dining room, and right in the middle of the hardwood, lightly finished dining room floor, was dark blue Sharpie art work. My 3 year old daughter tried to help clean it, so she put Windex (did not help the situation) on top of it, then I found this site.
I tried the Windex (had no choice), tried Kaboom, worked a little but could see the marks. I tried toothpaste, Magic Eraser, and nothing seemed to work. Then I found some orange smelling hand sanitizer,and thought, what do I have to lose? I couldn't believe it but hand sanitizer worked wonders. You can't see any marks on the floor (thank god, cause we're renters) so if all else fails, try hand sanitizer. (01/26/2009)
By Jayme
The eraser trick does seem to work, however, if you look closely it isn't actually removing the marker it is removing the top surface layer the marker is on and hence, the marker along with it. Rubbing too hard will cause discoloration in the wood surface. (02/01/2009)
By Benji
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