Did you know that you can use a felt tip marker to hide deep
scratches in your wood furniture? It’s very easy to do and the only trick to it
is to match the color as closely as possible. I suggest visiting an art supply
store instead of your local hardware store to find the exact match. Remember,
the color may darken a bit after soaking into the wood so you might try just a
shade lighter to start. You can always darken it if you need to.
The best method to use is to dab the marker into the
scratch, let it dry for about 5 minutes and then even it out by applying a
light stroke with the tip. This is the best remedy for dealing with a few deep
scratches. If, however, you have quite a few gouges that go deeper than just
the surface you may need to actually refinish the entire piece and that’s a lot
more work than we can cover here!
For all of those light surface scratches that you’re tired
of looking at there’s a simple fix as well. Just so you know this won’t harm
your furniture in any way if it is less than 50 years old. However, if it is an
antique of 50 years or more you will need to perform a simple test before you
begin. First of all you could actually lower the value of an antique if you
alter it in any way and secondly the shellac finish on old furniture will not
react well to the Danish oil that we will be using in the next step. To find out simply place a few drops of
alcohol on the finish in an unobtrusive spot, if it dissolves then you know you’re
dealing with a shellac finish.
All you will need to completely remove all of the minor
scratches and dings from your wood furniture will be some clear or neutral
Danish oil (available at the hardware/home improvement store) and extremely
fine steel wool (0000). Yes! Steel wool is perfectly OK to use provided that it
is the proper gauge as mentioned.
Pour a generous amount of the Danish oil onto the steel wool
and begin rubbing the wood surface. Always
rub with the grain, not against it and
pay close attention. The fine surface
scratches that you see are actually in the clear finish that protects the wood
surface and not in the wood itself so you only need to remove enough of the
finish to eliminate the scratches. You don’t want to remove any of the finish
that is under the surface, just the scratches themselves. Adequate lighting will
make this a lot easier to do. Don’t worry, you will be able to see when you
have removed the scratches very easily, it’s just a matter of paying attention.
As you eliminate the scratches be sure to also rub the small
area surrounding it in ever decreasing amounts. Does that make sense? In other
words, after buffing out the scratched area continue to rub the space just around the area but more lightly and
with less pressure. This will leave a nice smooth transition from where the
scratch was to the unscratched surface areas.
Remember, this is to remove surface scratches only, not deep
scratches that go down into the wood itself. I have done this myself and it
works wonders for wood furniture. You might be surprised just how many
scratches you will find if you take a close look at your furniture and this
simple method will remove them all!
A WORD of CAUTION: Be sure that the area you will be working
in is well ventilated and without open flames. Danish oil is slightly toxic and
flammable. Take the same precautions as you would if you were paining a room
and you will be fine. Also be aware that Danish oil can spontaneously combust
if left in crumpled up rags or steel wool. You can easily avoid this by simply
spreading them out and allowing them to dry outdoors. After that it’s perfectly
safe to throw them in the trash.
No comments:
Post a Comment