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Thread: Hard Maple Dent Repair?

  1. #16
    That would be pretty standard sanding level for a production piece like that, helps keep the sheen even requiring less steps for finishing. This is why my recommendation is to have a professional do the repair if he blows it will be a full strip and refinish. best to keep the damage to those 2 dents, any sanding will change the look, unless the op has done this sort of thing and knows how to finesse it but these types of repairs go from simple to the point of no return in the wrong hands quickly...

    Quote Originally Posted by johnny means View Post
    An I the only one who thinks that thre entire top needed a proper sanding and refinish regardless of the dents. Are those wide belts scratches I see?

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by johnny means View Post
    An I the only one who thinks that thre entire top needed a proper sanding and refinish regardless of the dents. Are those wide belts scratches I see?
    I don't see any scratches, you must have a discerning eye.
    Scott Vroom

    I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.

  3. #18
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    Maybe they’re not technically scratches, but they are obvious to me. They’re where the sander left straight lines in the direction it was last run. It may have been sanded further with a ROS but it never got below the surface marred by the sanding belt. Stain absorbed unevenly into these lines and the dark and light pattern is clearly visible if you look for it in the close up.

    Ethan Allen or not, I don’t see it getting magically repaired to an unnoticeable state. I’d raise the dent with moisture and steam and fill it with a wax pencil or burn in stick. Save the pencil or stick for next time. It will happen again.

    Dan

  4. #19
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    Looks like this table is not in your home but in a showroom so it's not yours. Time to pay the piper.

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    I also use steam but not an iron. I do put water in the dent first and let it soak in, then cover with a damp cloth and apply heat. But I generally pinpiont the heat with a soldering iron. I use a fairly large tip, the same one I use for melting and welding plastic. It usually needs several cycles of soaking, wet cloth, and heating.

    JKJ
    This.

    As others have suggested, a full top refinish may be the only way to render this invisible. I did this once on a dining table. In addition to a dent or two it had normal finish wear from use. It wasn't Ethan Allen but it was still highly valued. It turned out great.
    Sharp solves all manner of problems.

  6. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Bender View Post
    Looks like this table is not in your home but in a showroom so it's not yours. Time to pay the piper.
    Hi Tom.
    I'm curious. What are you seeing that makes it look like a showroom? I think I see a garage door across the street through the window. Could that be a false window/image maybe?
    Fred
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  7. #22
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    My advise...leave it alone. It's costly and complicated to repair a dent that deep in any kind of invisible way with no guarantee as to the "invisible". It may be less noticeable leaving well alone.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  8. #23
    Thanks all for the comments. I'm honored that you think my dining room looks like a showroom! And there are no scratches in the finish, it is smooth as silk other than the dented areas. I think what you are seeing is the grain and figure in the wood under the finish. In any event, I have no experience repairing a catalyzed laquer finish, so I will take the advice to pay the Ethan Allen contractor to repair it. Many thanks for the input!

  9. #24
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    Len, probably the best decision. One time we had our delivery guys scratch/dent a customer’s bed frame. We hired a professional refinisher. Cost us about $300. Customer was thrilled...couldn’t even tell where the damage had been. As much as I’d love to pretend I can do a decent repair, the pros really do know what they are doing. And for furniture you care about, a pro is worth every penny.

    As an aside, I have a friend who took a several day furniture restoration class...can’t remember who the teacher was. But anyway, first thing the teacher did was take a table and literally stick an axe into the top. For the next several days in between teaching the class and while the students worked on various methods, the teacher worked on the table. My friend said at the end of it, you could not tell where the axe had been. Hard to believe, but some of these guys are really good at what they do.
    Last edited by Phil Mueller; 10-19-2019 at 12:50 PM.

  10. #25
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    +1 on John's idea of the soldering iron. Has worked well for me. But I do it differently (per Bob Flexner) -- add a drop of water, make sure the soldering iron is really hot and carefully touch it to the water, creating steam. Do it several times. The main advantage of this approach is that, if you make sure not to contact the wood with the soldering iron, and only the drop of water, you don't harm the finish anywhere else. Worst case is that it doesn't work and it will look pretty much like it did before you tried.
    Last edited by Dan Gaylin; 10-22-2019 at 7:46 PM.

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    My advise...leave it alone. It's costly and complicated to repair a dent that deep in any kind of invisible way with no guarantee as to the "invisible". It may be less noticeable leaving well alone.
    This is my vote. More that could go wrong then right. For me at least, furniture that gets used is bound to take a hit from time to time. The antique table from my wifes family that is in our dining room is covered by a padded mat, then tablecloths. I couldnt even tell you what the top looks like, but am sure it is undamaged... smh

    My brother did antique restoration for years, and was exceptional at it. But it was a wealth of knowledge and experience and although his work came out extremely well, there were many others in the business that did NOT have the skill (he would often get pieces that someone else had tried to fix first, since his was not an inexpensive service). People sometimes 'think' they are good at something but are not. My wife had a repair done on a piece damaged by a shipping company - it came out, 'meh' just ok by my standards.

    Post an update of the final repair and let us know how it went.
    Last edited by Carl Beckett; 10-28-2019 at 7:57 AM.

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