Removing small dents from wood
 

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,

John Smith.

Removing small dents from wood
 

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

Removing small dents from wood
 

On 2006-12-04 14:50:58 +0000, said:


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,

John Smith.

The technique is to use a hot iron (steam iron is good) through a cloth
pad. The idea is to warm, moisten and swell the grain. However, it
may not work through varnish and only works where the wood is crushed
as opposed to material having been removed.

Removing small dents from wood
 

Removing small dents from wood
 

The message .com
from contains these words:

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

Leave a nice ornament on top of the scratch.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Removing small dents from wood
 

The message
from Owain contains these words:

Leave a nice ornament on top of the scratch.

Won't it vibrate and upset the audio waves?

Blutack

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Removing small dents from wood
 

The message
from Owain contains these words:

Blutack

Ta!

I wonder if Linn have a version called Blutak.

D'yer know, it took me several goes to get the right spelling of that. I
even tried Bostik's site - but they make no mention of it. Perhaps
they've flogged it.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Removing small dents from wood
 

On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:38:47 GMT, Lobster
wrote:

I'd go along with the suggestions of using the iron and steaming it -
that trick really has to be seen to be believed! - however IIWY I'd
investigate further whether this really is solid wood. Sounds unlikely
to me that it would be, but I'm no audiophile: maybe it's normal? But
anyhow, if it IS veneered chipboard I would think steaming would make a
total balls of it.

Before going with steam and heat, plain cold water, locally applied and left
(and watched) for a bit may work. Or at least give an indication if the method
will work at all - it won't if the water can't get to the wood because of
varnish, oil , wax... Steam will work, but may harm the finish so visibly that
you end up wishing you had left it alone.


Thomas Prufer

Removing small dents from wood
 

Owain wrote:

I wonder if Linn have a version called Blutak.

There was an audio accessories maker that did a special version called
Blacktak or something similar. The idea being it is less visible when it
oozes out of the gap between base and thing you want isolated / fixed.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Removing small dents from wood
 

Hi,

Lobster and others who suggested this,

I tried the hot steam iron approach and it worked quite well. I've
never done it before so I started with a damp cloth folded twice (4
layers), then once (2 layers) then just one layer. I was amazed how hot
I got that piece of wood without causing it serious damage (though it
did warp a tiny amount and the grain around the marked area was raised
a little). I even tried it with just a sheet of paper kitchen towel but
I never placed the iron directly on the surface. Fortunately this
wooden piece is just trim so I was able to take it off and work on it
away from the speaker.

It took over an hour to get an appreciable improvement and I suspect
only a tiny amount of water got through the varnish but it did make a
difference. The mark is still there but you have to look for it and
have the light at the right angle.

Thanks,

John.


Lobster wrote:
wrote:

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.

I'd go along with the suggestions of using the iron and steaming it -
that trick really has to be seen to be believed! - however IIWY I'd
investigate further whether this really is solid wood. Sounds unlikely
to me that it would be, but I'm no audiophile: maybe it's normal? But
anyhow, if it IS veneered chipboard I would think steaming would make a
total balls of it.

David