So you ordered a bunch of Lego pieces (mostly likely minifigures), and they are covered in Sharpie. Or you’re going through a bunch of your old LEGOs and find that, as a kid, you covered them in Sharpie.
This can be a problem if you want to sell, display, or rebuild some of your LEGO sets. Fortunately there are plenty of ways to clean off Sharpie. Your main concern should be with making sure you find a method that doesn’t damage your LEGOs.
Cleaning off plain old LEGO bricks is pretty simple. The main concern is the prints on minifigures. Most methods of cleaning off Sharpie actually risk wiping away the print as well.
Note: this post is about cleaning off Sharpie marks not paints or markers in general.
Methods for Cleaning Sharpie off LEGO Pieces
Dry Erase Marker
This is a popular method and probably the least likely to remove the print on minifigures. All you need is a dry erase marker used for white boards and some kind of cloth, tissue or paper towel. Cover the Sharpie-afflicted piece in dry erase marker. Use the paper towel to wipe the piece clean.
As you’ll see with any method you might have to get more aggressive if the sharpie marks are (1) really caked on and/or (2) many years old.
So, if the Sharpie marks don’t come off the first time, repeat the process. The more resistant the sharpie marks, the harder you may need to push with the dry erase marker.
I’ve never seen anyone accidentally erase a print via this method, though that’s not to say it’s impossible. The main drawback with this method is that sometimes it doesn’t seem to be strong enough to erase the Sharpie completely. Some traces of residue could still remain even after a good clearing with this method.
Alcohol
This is probably the most popular method, but it can also be used to remove prints so be careful. The more intense the treatment is the more you risk removing the print.
You’ll probably want to use a ninety percent or higher rubbing alcohol. Use a cue tip to gently rub the alcohol on the piece. If the Sharpie doesn’t come off try rubbing longer, but not necessarily harder so you don’t potentially rub off the print.
Sometimes this will only get you so far. You might not have any definite marks, but the pieces may look darker than they should.
At this point you could try soaking the piece in a mixture of alcohol and water.
This is almost guaranteed to work. In fact, it’s very good at getting sharpie out of hard to reach places. However, leaving it in too long will certainly damage the print. This video demonstrates the effects of leaving minifigures pieces in alcohol for over an hour. Any sharpie staining not removed by the rubbing is gone, but the print is faded as well.
In some cases you’ll simply have to weigh fading the print against removing all sharpie marks/stains.
Toothpaste
Toothpaste can be applied the same way as alcohol. Squeeze some toothpaste onto the piece and use a cue tip to rub it. Run water over the piece when you’re finished. Because of its texture, toothpaste can be quite messy so it might take extensive rinsing.
Like with alcohol, you run a risk of removing the print. In fact, aggressively rubbing printed pieces against toothpaste covered paper is a method for removing prints. However, as long as you’re careful and patient you shouldn’t have to worry.
Non-Advised Methods
With toothpaste and alcohol, you run the risk of damaging prints if you’re not careful. But some methods are so risky you should probably just avoid them altogether. While these methods have been used to remove sharpie, more often than not, they’re recommended explicitly for removing prints. So you probably shouldn’t do these.
Nail Polish Remover
Applying Nail Polish Remover is the same as applying alcohol (either via cue tip or soaking); however, it is much more aggressive. It’s great if you want to remove prints, but it’s definitely overboard for removing sharpie.
Brasso
Brasso was made to remove tarnish from metals. Often it’s explicitly mentioned as a method for removing mini-figure prints (it’s even mentioned on the “Brasso” Wikipedia article). So, if you just want to remove sharpie marks, avoid Brasso!
Sandpaper
This is similar to Brasso in its uses. In fact, many people find it too destructive for removing prints!
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