Steaming out a dent

[Erik Oerter]

Anybody have insight on how to remove a dent in African Mahogany by steaming or other methods? The wood is unfinished. Thanks.

[Dennis Peacock]

Erik,

It works...bepending on how deep the "dent" is.
Put a drop or two of water in the dent, have the iron heat set to around "cotton", cover the area of wood with a "thin" cloth and apply the iron directly to the wetted dent. May take a couple of applications / steamings, but it will take most of the dent out. Some woods do "un-dent" very well though.

[Mike Spanbauer]

Try this on a scrap piece first though as some woods discolour also... walnut, bamboo, and others...

DAMHIKT.

Mike

[Heather Thompson]

Erik,

I took a class in 2005 at RoseWood Studio in Ontario. After spending three weeks building my final project of the course, which was pre-finished prior to glue up, a clamping block dented one of my table legs. Heart broken was not even close to a description of how I felt. Ron Barter, my instructor, broke out an iron, water bottle and cotton towel. My initial thought was, this is no time for ironing, was I ever wrong. Just another valuable lesson learned during my six weeks. Mistakes seem to be our best learning experiences. I would also take Mike's advice and try it on a test piece or you may be looking for advanced finishing advice next. :)

Heather

[Joe Meazle]

Erik,
With a softish wood like Mahogany, with lots of pores to boot, you may not even need the heat just a few drops on the dent could swell the cells back out.

Ditto on the test peice.

Joe

[glenn bradley]

I have had surprisingly good success with Dennis' method. My experience is patience. Do a little work and let the material dry and become 'normal'. If required, do a little more. I guess I mean don't expect it to come out perfect immediately, take your time, it will usually get there.

[Jack Briggs]

I constantly have to steam out dents from mahogany and maple in guitar building. I use an 80 watt soldering iron and a wet clean cotton rag, folded over a couple of times. Depending upon whether face grain or side grain and severity of the 'ding', most often it will spring back in a few seconds.

End grain is another story...........................

[Dennis Montgomery]

What has always worked well for me is a wet wash rag and a clothes iron.

[Paul Girouard]

I use iron and wet rag , I generally wet the whole piece or board as well it raises all the grain so when you sand / scrape etc later you don't get a "flash" where only a spot was wet.

Khaya , African Mahogany may be to "brittle " to steam well though.

Do you have a test piece you could use first??

[Josiah Bartlett]

I use an iron designed for applying heat shrink skin to RC aircraft- it has a heat control and a small sole that is easy to put where you want it, but isn't hot enough to burn the wood like a soldering iron would be.