On 4 Dec 2006 06:50:58 -0800, wrote:


Hi,

I managed to damage the wooden top of a new hi-fi speaker. The scrape
was caused by the corner of a plastic foldable crate (rounded not
sharp). The mark is across the grain and the indentations are deepest
where the grain is soft and less where the grain is hard, so I assume
this is real wood not veneered chipboard. The wood is open grained (I
assume pine or spruce), stained black (not painted, you can see the
grain as variations in black/grey) and polished/thin varnish).

I have heard of using heat to raise such indentations in wood but not
sure how to do it. I don't feel like placing a hot iron on my new
speaker :-) .

Does anyone know how to do this or can you suggest other possible
techniques I could try?

Thanks for any suggestions,

Small indentations can be steamed up. The basic method is to wet the
wood then apply a hot 'iron' to the dent.
It's a bit of knack though, and best results are achieved through the
use of suitably shaped irons ( to prevent unwanted peripheral
expansion ). I generally use a gas flame to heat the irons.
I work mostly with hardwood, so can use a bare iron - a softwood will
probably required an intermediate thin wet cloth.

I'd recommend finding an old bit of pine and practicing.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk