Have I destroyed my deck?

[Cribey]

Hi All,

I recently got a new deck installed, using Spotted Gum timber - love the wood and I love the deck.

Upon advice form the carpenter who installed the deck I went a bought what I thought was CLEAR timber oil. The "paint specialist" assured me it was clear. I bought Intergrain Nature's Timber Oil - "A natural, transparent oil for decking and all exterior timber".

I didn't notice the tiny barcode that said Merbau. Nowhere on the tin does it say it is tinted (other than above the barcode - it's seriously tiny text). It is definitely not obvious that's it’s a tinted oil. So, I assume it's a transparent timber oil. It was tinted Merbau, and now my deck looks like a red brick... I assumed the red tint upon opening the tin was an application aid and would vanish once dried, it didn't. I'm very upset about the whole incident. And I've learnt my lesson, big time!

I then rang up Intergrain and they said that because I only applied 1 coat a few days back that I could try using Turps with a rag and pull the oils out. Then wait 3-4 months, (I live in Melbourne), until the timber returns to its natural colour and begin the oil application steps (with prep, cleaning etc) with the "Natural" oil one instead. They said using a stripper wouldn't really work and would cost a fortune to apply it to 20m² of decking. They also said sanding the deck would push the oils into the timber further, (which I thought didn't make much sense, but went along with it).

I went back to the place I bought the oil from and spoke to the manager who was extremely understanding and nice. She offered any materials to help me with getting it back to its original form. They supplied me with a replacement 10L NATURAL oil, bag of rags and a new applicator sleeve. I paid for the Turps. Pretty awesome outcome so far.

I've applied Turps to the wood and gave it a good rubbing with the applicator and rags. It came up what I thought looked like a little better but it was super slippery. I then soaped and washed it down thoroughly to remove the remaining Turps from the deck. Now it's a bit rougher than before. There is also some weird mottled almost leopard print patterns here and there. What is this? Can I remove them?

Does anyone know of a way to completely restore the deck to its original timber colouring and remove the oil that's been applied? Or any methods, products or a combination of, that I can use (other than replacing the timber)?

Thanks.

[rwbuild]

Try oxalic acid