Question:
Help! Our brand new wooden coffee table received several small ‘dings’ (small gouges) when some small child pounded it with a hard object during the chaos of a toddler birthday party <sigh>. There are also some fairly superficial scratches (where the same object was apparently scraped on the table). ARGH! I should _think_ that it would be possible to spot fix it, given the right materials and expertise – sort of a cosmetic fill+cover – rather than refinish the entire surface; at least that is what I am hoping. Does anybody know of anyone in the S.F. Bay area (ideally Peninsula or South Bay, but anywhere is ok) who does repair work of this sort to wooden furniture? We’re just heartsick over this, and would really like to get it fixed. Thanks! Anne William – 4/11/98 Jessica – 8/28/78 For Articles/Resources on intuitive parenting, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, etc.: http://www.intuitiveparenting.org I am: mom, Attorney, Prof., Advocate for Fathers, Lactation Advisor (in training) http://www.parentinglaw.com
Response:
Anne… One of the first projects when I built my new wookshop was to restore an old dining room suite we had purchased at a garage sale. I worked my &*%*& off on this thing, but by the time i took it back upstairs to the dining room, you could see yourself in the finish. I could sit on the table without a wobble. I used Minwax finishing products (which I swear by), and I was so impressed with how good of job I had done. Well…to make a long story short…My nearly two year old grand sone cmae to spend xmas weekend with us. And, as one year olds will some times do…he threw one of his little tantrums…but he happened to be at my table when he did…and…with a fork in his hand. Need I say more… I contacted the people of Minwax to ask about repairs, and was sadly advised to get out the ol’ orbital…but lots of discs…and go to work on totally refinishing. there is no repairing Minwax once it has been penetrated deep enough that the bare wood shows underneath… Happy Sanding Tommy "Keep Smellinf the Sawdust" – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Help! Our brand new wooden coffee table received several small ‘dings’ (small > gouges) when some small child pounded it with a hard object during the chaos > of a toddler birthday party <sigh>. There are also some fairly superficial > scratches (where the same object was apparently scraped on the table). ARGH! > I should _think_ that it would be possible to spot fix it, given the right > materials and expertise – sort of a cosmetic fill+cover – rather than refinish > the entire surface; at least that is what I am hoping. > Does anybody know of anyone in the S.F. Bay area (ideally Peninsula or South > Bay, but anywhere is ok) who does repair work of this sort to wooden > furniture? We’re just heartsick over this, and would really like to get it > fixed. > Thanks! > Anne > William – 4/11/98 > Jessica – 8/28/78 > For Articles/Resources on intuitive parenting, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, etc.: > http://www.intuitiveparenting.org > I am: mom, Attorney, Prof., Advocate for Fathers, Lactation Advisor (in training) > http://www.parentinglaw.com
Response:
Also schrieb Tommy Willis: >but he happened to be at my table when he did…and…with a fork >in his hand. Need I say more…
I would have sanded the table with his butt. :-{) — Catch the cluetrain. http://www.cluetrain.com ALL programs are poems, it’s just that not all programmers are poets. — Jonathan Guthrie in the scary.devil.monastery
Response:
>Help! Our brand new wooden coffee table received several small ‘dings’ (small >gouges) when some small child pounded it with a hard object during the chaos >of a toddler birthday party <sigh>. There are also some fairly superficial >scratches (where the same object was apparently scraped on the table). ARGH!
As far a dents and dings go, it’s easy to fix with steam; gunsmiths do it all the time on rifle stocks. I’ve restore a vintage M1 Garand rifle stock a while back with great success. To raise the dents, heat up an iron to temperature while you wet a piece of 100% pure cotton cloth. Wring out most of the water in the cloth and place the damp cloth on top the dents and place the hot iron on top of the cloth for about 15 sec or so until you see visible steam coming off the damp cloth. Remove the cloth and check if the dent is still there. repeat the procedure when necessary. As a final step, buff the surface lightly with the finest steel wool to close the pores of the wood. I have no idea how to get rod of scratches just short of refinish the wood.
Response:
By the sounds of it you are not a woodworker, or, this is too big/expensive a project for you. If so, the best way to find furniture refinishing expertise is antique dealers. Depending on the finish it may be relatively simple to raise the dents and repair or conceal the scratches. The best way to see if the person knows what they are doing is how they test the finish on the piece (hopefully in an inconspicuous spot) as the different finishes react to different solvents and fundamentally determine how to proceed with the repair. It should be the first thing they look into. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Help! Our brand new wooden coffee table received several small ‘dings’ (small > gouges) when some small child pounded it with a hard object during the chaos > of a toddler birthday party <sigh>. There are also some fairly superficial > scratches (where the same object was apparently scraped on the table). ARGH! > I should _think_ that it would be possible to spot fix it, given the right > materials and expertise – sort of a cosmetic fill+cover – rather than refinish > the entire surface; at least that is what I am hoping. > Does anybody know of anyone in the S.F. Bay area (ideally Peninsula or South > Bay, but anywhere is ok) who does repair work of this sort to wooden > furniture? We’re just heartsick over this, and would really like to get it > fixed. > Thanks! > Anne > William – 4/11/98 > Jessica – 8/28/78 > For Articles/Resources on intuitive parenting, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, etc.: > http://www.intuitiveparenting.org > I am: mom, Attorney, Prof., Advocate for Fathers, Lactation Advisor (in training) > http://www.parentinglaw.com
Response:
If the topcoat is shellac I think you can just apply shellac over the scratches and it will "melt" together…If it’s poly I think you will have to refinish the top….no easy way that I know of…. Opinions expressed herein are my own and may not represent those of my employer.
Response:
Well, kids will be kids, and this is something that simply happens all the time. Especially, if you have several of them all at once for a wild birthday party (hint for the future, if you don’t like anything in your home to be damaged, try doing the party at a local ice cream shop, McD’s, or bowling alley). You can get color filler sticks. They kind of look like large yellow pencils, and they come in a variety of colors. After picking the right color, you can just rub these over any nicks and deep scratches, and it will fill them in. I have several of these at home, of different colors, and mine were made by MinWax. If the scratches aren’t very deep, something like Old English works great. If you shop around, you will find that there are a few different shades of this stuff (supermarkets tend to carry only the one dark color). You can also try to call the place where you purchased the furniture. Most will have a repair person either on staff, or as an outside referral. They may or may not charge, but at least you will get someone with experience in repairing damaged furniture to "like new" condition. Lastly, a lot of people would pay extra money to have "patina" added to their furniture. Stop staring at it, and it will go away. :)
Response:
> Stop staring at > it, and it will go away. :)
I know Anne isn’t ready for that advice, but I agree. The first ding in a new car, or scratch on new, pretty furniture hurts. But really, it’s meant to be practical. Karen
Response:
> > I should _think_ that it would be possible to spot fix it, given the right > materials and expertise – sort of a cosmetic fill+cover – rather than > refinish the entire surface; at least that is what I am hoping.
Unless you have particular experience doing both spot repairs and refinishing, what makes you think that even the best precision repair will be adaquate for these damages? You are the one who has to live with whatever level of detectability a spot repair is going to show because it’s your money that you are spending to get it repaired. It’s up to you how invisible the reapir will turn out, and I see that you are using your wallet to dtermine that. Setting your priorities is your prerogative as a customer, but then don’t turn around and needle or harangue the furniture tech who offers you a range of options to get the job done so-so or adaquately vs. getting the job done nicely. Anyone can rub soft wax sticks into the wounds, but not everyone can do it with flair. Also note, that sometimes a full refinish cannot erase some signs of abuse. The objective for us practioners is to make the item look very much better than it currently looks. But you, the customer, control the shots on how far we can go in erasing some history. — Daniel Shafner shafner at earthlink dot net
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