When theoretical knowledge turns out to work in practice

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We've been visiting my Dutch friends this weekend. They have a beautiful solid wood dining table which has been horribly scarred by a black burn mark. Every time I see it, it makes me sad. And every time I see it, I ponder how they might get rid of it without spending a shocking amount of money on professional treatment. I figured that the burn was probably not very deep and that it ought to be possible to rub it out if I could find a mild abrasive. I didn't want to attack it with sand paper or wire wool for fear of making it worse but I had a sneaky suspicion that I might be able to improve it with toothpaste and 'elbow grease'. After checking that they were willing to risk me having a go, I got my toothpaste, an old face flannel and I got stuck in. It took me about 40 minutes but after the first few I started to suspect that it was working so I kept going, rubbing the burned mark in small circular movements. On a particularly tough patch I did give it a gentle rub with some fine sandpaper but mostly it was toothpaste and physical effort. I worked in toothpaste ingredients for many years so I knew that 'in theory', I was probably on the right track. But as the saying goes "In theory, practice and theory are the same thing. In practice they're not". Luckily this time theory and practice did prove to be aligned and my friends are really happy with the work I did. I really should have taken before and after photos. I probably didn't because I probably didn't really believe it would work.