felt tip pens marks on a stripped pine door

[vittoria]

Does anyone know if/how it is possible to clean these? Today I was at my friend's house looking after her two children and my daughter while she was taking her youngest to have his eight week jabs, and did not realise the children were "making the door pretty" - I feel really guilty as I was meant to be supervising and would like to clean that door!

[moonacre]

If the door is waxed then removing the wax with a suitable solvent should remove the marks. Rewaxing will then leave it as good as new. If unwaxed then I suspect the felt tip will have soaked into the wood as the stripping process tends to leave the wood surface very porous. The only solution may be to sand the marks off - and the unmarked areas to match. Then have the door restripped to get back to the stripped (not sanded) look. Before this it may be worth getting a specific felt tip stain remover from a hardware shop (eg StainDevil). Although designed for fabric you may find this works. Test on an edge first in case it makes things worse.