Gouge in entry door

[Russell Tribby]

I have a customer that I've done work for in the past that asked me to fix one of his interior doors. It is solid wood, eight feet tall and is stained a coffee color. There is a gouge at the top where some remodelers banged into it. It looks someone took the head of carriage bolt and made a squigly line about 5" long towards the top of the door. The gouge is close to 1/16" deep. Any suggestions on what approach to take in fixing this? The obvious route for me would be to take it down (it weighs a ton), put some wood filler in it and try and match the stain. Any other thoughts?

[John Grogan]

In the past I have used Bondo to fill gouges. I think it will do better over time than wood filler. Then to match the color I use artist oil paints. Buy a few tubes along the color lines of the door and you are good to go. You can adjust the color better than some pre mixed stain. Also I am not sure how well stain and bondo work together

[Jim Becker]

Honestly, a fill type repair may be more noticeable than just working with melting shellac sticks or not doing anything outside of using a small artist's brush to apply dye to the gouge. John's method will be similar to using the shellac sticks except the color is applied afterward, rather than as part of the filler.

[Russell Tribby]

Both great suggestions. The only problem with not filling it is that the gouge is very visible when the door is open. The door is very tall and it is right by a light. With the glare coming off the door the gouge is hard to miss.

[Joe Jensen]

Do you know what the finish is? I have had amazing luck with steaming dents out with a hot clothes iron and damp rags. I've steamed 1/16th deep dents many many times. You need to remove the varnish first so the moisture can enter the wood. I bought a cheap teflon coated household iron for the shop since my wife didn't appreciate me using her's. On my projects I mainly use Behlen NGR dye and the steam has no problem penetraing through the dye. I'm sure it would go through stain too. I use a terry cloth towel and regular water. I get a small section of the towel very wet and have the iron on high. I put the wet towel on the dent, and the hot iron on top of that. It takes maybe 20-30 applications to get 1/16th inch deep dent out. If it's that deep and long, you may have an hour or so. The biggest issue will be redoing the top coat.

[Russell Tribby]

I'm pretty sure it's just a lacquer finish. I thought about steaming it out. What would the steam do to the lacquer? I guess if I try the steam and it doesn't pull it out then I can always go to the bondo or sticks.

[Joe Jensen]

If a commercial shop built the door I'd be surprised if it's plain lacquer. More likely it's a catalyzed finish. You can test with lacquer thinner to see if it removes the finish. I just wipe my lacquer off with thinner, steam, and re-spray that area with more lacquer and it reflows in.