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!