Painted furniture repair?

[Jason White]

I have a dining room table (manufactured by Lane) with one of those black painted "antique"-looking finishes. Not sure what it's made of, probably pine or veneer over a man-made substrate.

Anyway, while moving it out of the house temporarily, I banged it on something and took a nickel-sized chunk out of it near the edge.

How to repair? Was thinking some bondo and a can of black spray lacquer, followed by buffing with some type of compound to blend it in.

Whad'ya think?

Jason

[David DeCristoforo]

Bondo would be my first thought too. That will be the easy part. Blending the black lacquer and getting exactly the right level of sheen will be the trick.

[David Keller NC]

I have a dining room table (manufactured by Lane) with one of those black painted "antique"-looking finishes. Not sure what it's made of, probably pine or veneer over a man-made substrate.

Anyway, while moving it out of the house temporarily, I banged it on something and took a nickel-sized chunk out of it near the edge.

How to repair? Was thinking some bondo and a can of black spray lacquer, followed by buffing with some type of compound to blend it in.

Whad'ya think?

Jason

Jason - do not attempt to use black laquer for this purpose. Laquer is notorius for not wanting to bond to just about anything other than raw wood, itself (the previous laquer coat) or de-waxed shellac. The table, if recently purchased, is likely finished with conversion varnish (this is essentially a very runny epoxy, from the chemistry standpoint), and laquer isn't going to bond well with it.

I've used shellac as what amounts to a glue for this purpose before - a sludge made of about an 8 lb. cut mixed with sawdust, applied liberally and allowed to set-up for at least 2 days, then scraped, any bubbles/divots filled, and the top coats put on.

However, given that you don't know what exactly the material in the gouge is, I'd dye bondo or Elmer's wood putty black with either lampblack (best) or aniline dye (still good, though it may fade a bit over time), fill the gouge, then re-coat the entire table top with a 1-2 lb. wash coat of shellac, and follow up with an alkyd varnish (which you could dye black as well).

[David DeCristoforo]

"... then re-coat the entire table top..."

Yeah... that's what I meant to say...;) Great advice David K.

[Jason White]

Wow! Great info.

Thanks David.

Jason


Jason - do not attempt to use black laquer for this purpose. Laquer is notorius for not wanting to bond to just about anything other than raw wood, itself (the previous laquer coat) or de-waxed shellac. The table, if recently purchased, is likely finished with conversion varnish (this is essentially a very runny epoxy, from the chemistry standpoint), and laquer isn't going to bond well with it.

I've used shellac as what amounts to a glue for this purpose before - a sludge made of about an 8 lb. cut mixed with sawdust, applied liberally and allowed to set-up for at least 2 days, then scraped, any bubbles/divots filled, and the top coats put on.

However, given that you don't know what exactly the material in the gouge is, I'd dye bondo or Elmer's wood putty black with either lampblack (best) or aniline dye (still good, though it may fade a bit over time), fill the gouge, then re-coat the entire table top with a 1-2 lb. wash coat of shellac, and follow up with an alkyd varnish (which you could dye black as well).