Kitchen Hacks
The Fridge Staple You Didn't Know Could Fix Your Hardwood Floor Scratches
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Photo by Rocky Luten
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20 Comments
10Downing
September 7, 2019
Just to share a win of mine, please note the African Animals image with lion in the center. You may buy the print on Saatchi.Art, Kathy Cheer is the artist.
Lee
September 7, 2019
My mother taught me this in 1960 for water rings and where the dog had scratched the hardwood floor. Doesn’t smell afterwards people, relax
10Downing
August 8, 2019
Right off, and I am very much in favor of what this website represents, the alternatives to paper and plastic, which I anticipated, is rather costly for most households with children, senior citizens living on fixed incomes. I know there is a long term investment with these products, but the compost box at $75! Those who can should start a compost in their backyard.
[email protected]
August 2, 2019
I suggest whenever you show a before and after you take the pictures from the same vantage point, that way the grain is the same, lighting, etc
brawlman
August 1, 2019
NONSENSE!
Why would you clean a floor only to smear,wipe and and leave a remnant of smelly mayo behind?
Is this a test of whether someone has common sense to do something so stupid?
Especially if one has pets and doesn't want them licking the floors? SMH...
Why would you clean a floor only to smear,wipe and and leave a remnant of smelly mayo behind?
Is this a test of whether someone has common sense to do something so stupid?
Especially if one has pets and doesn't want them licking the floors? SMH...
Andrew C.
August 1, 2019
I love F52 but this article is just so inaccurate in so many ways, starting with the headline, it's unprofessional. This doesn't "fix" scratches, nor "heal cracks", and the idea that the proteins and oils will "swell the wood" and "help fill the crack" is nonsense. Water will swell wood (but usually damage it as well); oil won't - otherwise your fine furniture would puff up every time you used lemon Pledge on it. What IS going on here is better described as *concealing* scratches, and mostly in the finish, not the wood itself - the scratches in the wood are still there, pretty much unchanged physically. The reason the scratches stood out before was the contrast between the exposed bare, unfinished wood vs. the finished surface around it. The oil in the mayo (and the oil soap) oils and 'wets' the bare wood to give it a bit of an improvised finish again, better matching and blending in with the look of the finish around it. (It's *possible* some of the protein content of the egg white (or 'albumin', mostly protein - the yolk is primarily fat) could dry and form a sort of 'glaze' or seal the surface a bit, too, but that's a real long shot.) So: does this make your floor look somewhat better? DEFINITELY. Does it "fix" it, "heal" it, fill in the scratches, swell the wood fibers, etc.? Heck no.
(One more editorial tsk-tsk: explaining how it works (or actually, not) by citing a "source", when that source - TipHero.com - simply says the same thing, with no evidence or source itself whatsoever - is something my 10th grade English teacher would've docked me two full letter grades for. Plus, have you *looked* at the site? It's garbage. Current front page example headline: "707-Pound Man Who Refuses to Lose Weight Says ‘I’ll Eat ‘Til I’m Dead’". You cited THAT site? For a SCIENCE explanation? Shame on you, Food52.)
(Disclaimer/qualifications: Outside of my day job, I'm a woodworker and knifemaker - I work with *lots* of different kinds of valuable wood, and finishes, for woodworking and the handles of my ($800+) chef knives. As to the chemistry: I know enough to have a US patent on a catalytic hydrocarbon fuel synthesis process...)
(One more editorial tsk-tsk: explaining how it works (or actually, not) by citing a "source", when that source - TipHero.com - simply says the same thing, with no evidence or source itself whatsoever - is something my 10th grade English teacher would've docked me two full letter grades for. Plus, have you *looked* at the site? It's garbage. Current front page example headline: "707-Pound Man Who Refuses to Lose Weight Says ‘I’ll Eat ‘Til I’m Dead’". You cited THAT site? For a SCIENCE explanation? Shame on you, Food52.)
(Disclaimer/qualifications: Outside of my day job, I'm a woodworker and knifemaker - I work with *lots* of different kinds of valuable wood, and finishes, for woodworking and the handles of my ($800+) chef knives. As to the chemistry: I know enough to have a US patent on a catalytic hydrocarbon fuel synthesis process...)
10Downing
August 8, 2019
Andrew, if only we all had a US patent on catalytic hydrocarbon fuel synthesis process, we all wouldn't make mistakes as as this wood repair tip.
Andrew C.
August 8, 2019
:-) Touche'. I wasn't trying to toot my horn so much as present as being qualified to hold forth on wood/mayo chemistry - at least, more than the 707-Pound Man website. Guess I've been on Quora too much, where they encourage that stuff - it *does* cut down on random idiotic flame wars, though (as anyone who's ever read *any* YouTube video's comment thread of sufficient length can appreciate).
karen K.
August 1, 2019
This really works! My entrance hallway was stained with salt residue from the winter and it looks brand new after the mayo treatment.
Jessica M.
July 21, 2019
I've used walnuts to hide scratches and imperfections on wooden furniture before!
Mary T.
July 21, 2019
This is amazing, and I can’t wait to try it. I have the same issue, and it makes me feel crazy that the rest of the floor looks great, but where we walk into the kitchen and put away groceries in the frig etc. the floor is so scratched. We are not the kind of folks who make people take off their shoes to enter the house, so I have just lived with this for years. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Paisley
July 17, 2019
White vinegar (the kind u can buy gallon size) mixed with water in equal portions is a great, safe household cleaner. Use it in the bathroom, kitchen. Also on windows. It is very inexpensive, readily available, nontoxic,earth friendly.
AprilH
August 2, 2019
We also use a vinegar/oil mixture to clean wood surfaces. Between that and the vinegar/water you mentioned you can clean almost anything!
Smaug
July 17, 2019
The notion that you can fill a scratch in the finish by swelling the wood with moisture is just nonsense. In the first place it will just raise the crack, in the second place it will dry and shrink back. A Tibet Almond Stick, basically an oil soaked rag in a can, is a convenient way to cosmetically cover scratches in floors and furniture, though it can't restore the integrity of the finish. They've been around forever and are inexpensive.
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