Getting magnesium chloride gunk off a wood shelf

I have a situation. Some magnesium bath salts got left on a wood shelf in my bathroom in a bag that was not closed. Being hydroscopic, it sucked up a ton of water, and then spilled onto the wood. Of course I can try to dry it off but it never will really, and it will just suck in more water later.


Is there something I can do to react the magnesium chloride with a relatively harmless chemical to make it no longer hydroscopic, and hopefully then I can clean it up?




Here is one possible solution that first should be tested on a small area as it may damage the wood imbued with magnesium chloride.


The proposed path to removing $\ce{MgCl2}$ is based on the reaction between aqueous $\ce{MgCl2}$ (or $\ce{MgSO4}$) with some dissolved $\ce{Na2CO3}$ that is commonly available as Washing Soda. The resulting created so-called Magnesium Alba salt can be physically removed followed by treatment with an acid (lemon juice should suffice).


I also recommended this reaction as a quite surprising demonstration as it forms a massive water-loving basic magnesium carbonate hydrate that may actually consume all the water in your vessel! The further addition of the acid results in its complete dissolving.


Here is a [historical reference](http://magnesium.atomistry.com/magnesium_basic_carbonates.html) from Atomistry.com, to quote, in part:



> 
> Magnesia alba is commercially prepared as a white powder by precipitating magnesium sulphate or chloride with sodium carbonate. Magnesia alba levis results from precipitation in the cold, and magnesia alba ponderosa from precipitation in the heat. Both the light, bulky form and the heavier variety are used as laxatives in medicine, in dentistry, and for toilet purposes. They ignite respectively to the light and heavy oxides of magnesium. The light carbonate, " when examined under the microscope, is found to consist of amorphous particles with numerous slender prisms intermixed.
> 
> 
> 


And further:



> 
> Magnesia alba is only slightly soluble in water (the solution has an alkaline reaction), but is soluble in acids and in solutions of ammonium salts...Its composition is usually said to approximate to that of hydromagnesite, Mg(OH)2.3MgCO3.3H2O, but analyses of its composition were never very consistent, and it seems quite certain that its composition is very variable.
> 
> 
> 


I hope this helps but, at least, it should make an interesting experiment.


 2