Remove Sharpie ink from wood?

[Joe Wood]

I see online to use Goof Off, or isopropyl alcohol, but what's worked for you?? This is unfinished wood.

[John K Jordan]

I see online to use Goof Off, or isopropyl alcohol, but what's worked for you??

Soaked down into the fibers or on top of finish or sanding sealer? What kind of wood, one with open pores or a dense exotic?

Before I tried anything I'd get a Sharpie and make marks on similar wood for testing.

I've found lighter fluid removes Sharpie ink easily from non-porous surfaces. I've never tried it with wood. If the marks are on top of finish they might wipe off if the solvent used was not one that softened the finish. (i.e., no alcohol on shellac)

I'd be afraid putting solvent directly on the a mark on bare wood could cause the ink to bleed deeper and make a wider spot. Perhaps the advice for removing certain stains from fabric would work better - put a little solvent instead on a cloth or paper towel and blot gently.

JKJ

[Joe Wood]

Yeah this is unfinished douglass fir John.

[Andrew Seemann]

I've always planed or scraped Sharpie off of wood when possible. It doesn't seem to sink into into hard or dense wood very far, and Doug Fir can be pretty hard, so maybe planing would work.

The solvent seems like it is alcohol based; denatured alcohol seems to pull it off the easiest, but I would be concerned as John mentioned that it would smear or sink in. Definitely would need to test on scrap first.

[russell lusthaus]

sharpie will come off easy with spirits. It is oil based, so it dissolves in the spirit.

[johnny means]

Regular Sharpies are mostly alchohol based. Isopropyl and other solvents work well to remove their ink. You'll want to flood then blot the area so as to lift and remove the pigments.

[Joe Wood]

yeah I don't want to sand or plane this resawn doug fit, I'll be trying all of those solvent suggestions, say Russel, what do you mean by spirits?

[Ron Citerone]

yeah I don't want to sand or plane this resawn doug fit, I'll be trying all of those solvent suggestions, say Russel, what do you mean by spirits?

I would rather sand with fine sandpaper than risk a sovent/ink stain sinking in. My 2 pennies

Ron

[Curt Harms]

A solvent that no one has mentioned is Acetone. Acetone will remove 'permanent' magic marker from metal, no idea about wood.

[Prashun Patel]

Why don't you want to sand or scrape? That's the easiest way. You'll need anyway to sand or plane it before you finish.

Using a solvent like IPA or acetone sometimes leaves a ghost.

[Frank Pratt]

I have never had success removing sharpie from wood using just solvent and I've tried alcohol (various kinds), xylene, acetone & naptha. Some dissolved the ink well, but it always left a very visible trace in the wood grain. Sanding or scraping is the only way.

[Carlos Alvarez]

With fir, the ink has soaked in pretty deep. And adding more solvents is probably (not sure) going to drive it deeper. I've taken Sharpie off dense woods like Wenge with solvent, but even on some poplar recently I had to sand pretty far to get it out.

[Joe Spear]

Try a few drops of chlorine bleach directly over the mark. The dye in the sharpie ink may disappear.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Make a poultice of corn starch and lacquer thinner - or Goof Off - and place it over the marks.

Cover the poultice with a damp rag - damp to slow the evaporation - and allow to sit as long as it takes to lift the marks.

Repeat as needed.

Don't try to flood the marks of worse yet, blot or rub them off with a solvent saturated cloth. That will just drive the ink deeper into the wood fibers.

Sanding, carding and/or planing will probably be needed to remove it all.

[Joe Wood]

Yeah some of the solvents kinda worked, but really they just spread the dye around. I ended up just sanding it off,

thanks for all the suggestions!

[Dave Richards]

Too bad you couldn't get some Halothane. It works quite nicely for removing sharpie.

[Robin Dobbie]

Halothane? I've never heard of it so I did a search. Supposedly it's a drug for "general anesthetic" $52 for 250ml. How did you come about discovering its excellent sharpie removal attributes?

[Joe Wood]

I've never heard about that either, maybe a diff spelling?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halothane

[Alan Lightstone]

Oh, you're making me feel old. I actually have a decommissioned Halothane vaporizer that's a table lamp in the house. And I've used it on many patients back in the day, being an anesthesiologist. I've never heard of it being used to remove sharpie. Fascinating.

I wouldn't play around with it. We stopped using it because of Halothane hepatitis, a rare, but often fatal complication. I've seen someone come incredibly close to dying and needing a liver transplant when it was used on them. I wonder if the newer volatile anesthetics work for this, but not going to bring any home to try. Kids, don't try this at home. I'm a trained professional.

[Dave Richards]

Oh, you're making me feel old. I actually have a decommissioned Halothane vaporizer that's a table lamp in the house. And I've used it on many patients back in the day, being an anesthesiologist. I've never heard of it being used to remove sharpie. Fascinating.

I wouldn't play around with it. We stopped using it because of Halothane hepatitis, a rare, but often fatal complication. I've seen someone come incredibly close to dying and needing a liver transplant when it was used on them. I wonder if the newer volatile anesthetics work for this, but not going to bring any home to try. Kids, don't try this at home. I'm a trained professional.

I agree with you Alan. It was sort of a tongue in cheek thing because I know most people aren't going to have access to it anyway. It does a great job of removing permanent marker as well as paint. (Makes you wonder about breathing the stuff.) We had a few bottles of it in our chemical cabinet at work even though it's no longer in use clinically. Always handled it and other anesthetic agents in well-ventilated areas and with nitrile gloves.

We made a few lamps from old vaprorizers for some of the Ologists over the years. It was kind of a fun project.

[Alan Lightstone]

We made a few lamps from old vaprorizers for some of the Ologists over the years. It was kind of a fun project.

I may ask you for hints on that, some day. I have another, more modern, Forane vaporizer that I’d love to make into a lamp. Never got around to it.

[Dave Richards]

I may ask you for hints on that, some day. I have another, more modern, Forane vaporizer that I’d love to make into a lamp. Never got around to it.

What model is it?

[Alan Lightstone]

Have to look. I'll let you know. It's in a box somewhere.

You sure you don't use the Halothane, pass out, someone sands off the sharpie behind your back, and you think it works?

[Dave Richards]

You sure you don't use the Halothane, pass out, someone sands off the sharpie behind your back, and you think it works?

LOL! No. I can assure you that although I've worked on many anesthesia machines, I've never once had an opportunity to be on the receiving end of one.

[russell lusthaus]

mineral spirits.

I used to use sharpie to mark my work with name, date etc. I also use Tru oil to finish the pieces over the sharpie. The oil finish would wash the sharpie away as I applied the finish. Now, I top coat the sharpie with water based poly (just that spot) and when dry, top coat with my oil finish and that seems to keep the writing fresh.

Mineral spirits or acetone will take the sharpie up just by wiping. Probably Denatured Alcohol also.

[Ron Hampe]

Brake Parts Cleaner works great.