How do you remove small dents in wood?

[richardh]

I am currently working on a cabinet and I have the problem that at some point in the past somone has used something to prize open the cabinet doors. (they had swollen with damp I think and they must have wanted to give them a bit of help). The result is that there are a series of shallow dents in the wood and I am wondering what I can do about them - if anything.

I thought I remembered that you could dampen the wood and use something like a soldering iron to get the wood to push outwards again. But would this actually work? I have never tried it but wondered if anyone else had. Or whether there were any tips anyone could give, even if it is "leave it alone".

RJ

[richardh]

Thanks Shane, I think I will give it a go and see what happens. But I will try it on a hidden area at the back of the cabinet first. I'll report back on what results I get.

RJ

[need4art]

Hi All,
What really works is the hot/ cold method.
I use something called a tacking iron for the picture framing industry. You can vary temp from warm to very, very hot just like an iron-only it is very small. Start with a wet/damp rag formed to cover the dent-steam- then aply cruched ice in a plastic bag to the same area. The hot/cold method works very fast for softer woods and quite quickly for woods like oak. If finish appears dull after use a bit of rotten stone and oil-than wax. I have made dents just disapear with this method.
Abe

[richardh]

Abe,

thanks very much for that tip. This is on walnut....so i'll give it a go. I would really like to get rid of the dents if possible as they are highly visible.

RJ

[Brad]

RJ,

The secret to removing a dent in wood is steam. A soldering iron, steam iron, or anything that can apply localized heat will work work. Wet a cloth and place it over the dent and apply the heating element.

Keet in mind that what you are doing is driving moist steam into the crushed wood fibers to losen them and coax them back into their original position. By forcing scalding hot moisture into the fibers of the wood you run the very real risk of delaminating venner and/or damaging any finish that exists on top of the wood.

Here is link that has some info http://extension.usu.edu/files/publicat ... /HI_24.pdf

If you want to maintain an original finish, I would learn to live with the dents.

[JohnM]

When you say "steam", you are actually referring to water vapor. Steam is dry and can exist only under pressure and at temps of 212 degrees F and above. The instant steam is released to atmosphere, it becomes water vapor as it cools and condenses the atmospheric water. The white cloud is actually water vapor, not steam which is invisible, but powerful enough to cut steel. Again, sorry to pick nits but I have a boiler operator license (under 500hp rating so I'm a piker!)

John M