I recently needed to know how to get wood stain off hands and skin, and had a really hard time finding an answer that didn’t include harsh chemicals. While I was visiting my mom the last time we went that way, I stopped by Z’s mom’s house for a visit, and she had made me a little tool rack that I can use for my jewelry tools.  It was awesome, but it was raw wood, which marks up easily and quickly begins to look dirty.    So, when I got home, I decided to stain it.

Me, being the brilliantly distracted man that I sometimes am, managed to forget to wear gloves when I stained the thing.  I also didn’t have a paint brush, so I used a rag to do the deed.   This meant I got stain all over my hands, under my nails, etc.

Normally, I would have gone straight for the turpentine… except, I didn’t have any.

Things that don’t work to get wood stain off hands include dish soap, lava soap, scrub brush, rubbing alcohol, oven cleaner…. yes, I tried it, it doesn’t work.   So, with gummy fingers sticking to the keys, I did a search on the internet.  And searched.  And searched.  And searched.

Nobody knows how to get this crap off hands, yeah?  Nobody.    And then I found a little blurb on a pdf that I’m pretty sure was an excerpt from some book.  It suggested vegetable oil.

I was doubtful, to say the least, but guess what?  It worked!

A tablespoon of vegetable oil and a lot of massaging it into my hands.  Wash with soap and water.  Repeat a second time if you have more stain to remove or want to use a scrub brush around nail beds and under your nails.   When you’re done, wash your hands a second time to remove any excess vegetable oil and voila! TRIUMPH! Clean hands.