Remove water stain from oak
We've got an old advertising piece from the days when Dad worked in the Whiskey bus. It's the end of an oak aging cask with a clock and some graphics, name of the company and Roman numerals for the clock numbers. Over the years of storage it got water stained. I'm not sure how the graphics were applied, decals, paint, whatever was used back in the day, but we want to preserve the graphics. The stain is not covering any of the graphics. So here's the question and I may already know the answer. Anyone know any way to remove water stains from from an unfinished piece of oak? I've done a little research, sanding, oxalic acid, but I'm not sure which is the best approach. Anyone have any experience in removing water stains? It may be that we photograph the graphics, sand the entire surface, take the piece to a sign painter and have the graphics reapplied, but that sort of destroys the originality of the piece.