Dings, divots, raised grain, dents, scrapes and scratches: it’s safe to say no matter what the problem is with your piece of wood, the in-house experts at Renovation Warehouse can help guide you towards a solution.
Imperfections in a plain coffee table: resin is the answer
Filling in any kind of hole in a coffee table-sized slab of wood is quite easy. Epoxy resin is usually the answer. Not only can you put all sorts of decorative things in the resin, from shells to photos to stones, you can join two completely unrelated pieces of wood, so long as the table you lay it all out on provides hard edges for the resin to set firmly. Put a frame of plywood, plastic or duct tape around the edges to sit while the resin sets. Once it has set, there are likely to be some areas of expanded overflow where the resin is bulging out, so you’ll need a good planer or sanding machine to brush the resin back down to the shape of the wood.
Holes and scrapes in wooden furniture and panels: wood filler fills ’em in
Wood filler is also known as wood putty. It’s easy to sand once dry and not as runny as resin. Your wood filler will always come in a range of colours to help it blend into the wood. It’s usually available in white, black and all sorts of variants. Remember, this is just for when small voids need filling. Don’t put large quantities of wood filler in large holes – not only will it stand out and look like it doesn’t match, it could be prone to cracking when the wood moves because it doesn’t bend as easily as resin.
Filling in splits and cracks in wooden posts, joists and core wood: again, resin is the way
An unsightly split or crack can be a structural problem as well as an eyesore. The answer is to carefully border off the edges of the crack, usually with duct tape, and pour resin into the crack. Resin expands as it hardens so don’t expect the crack to simply solve itself. Once dry, you’ll need to sand the resin bulge until the wood looks beautiful oncemore.
The best thing is epoxy resin seeps into wood fibres, bonds strongly and can expand and contract as temperatures make the wood expand and contract too.
For those teeny tiny imperfections, use splinters and sawdust
For a miniscule imperfection, consider squirting superglue in the hole then rubbing sawdust in. Another microscopic option is to force a splinter into any small hole.
Then, there is the legend of fixing a dent with a clothes iron….
Taking out a dent with steam can really work
Wood, when wet, expands and contracts in synchrony with the water. This is why a frozen tree will break an axe or warm expanding wood will creak and crack.
If it’s possible to get a piece of wood with a minor scratch parallel with the floor, soak it wet with a cloth like an old tea towel. Once the soaking wet tea towel is sitting on the wood, apply a hot clothes iron. The idea is the iron’s heat will cause the water you’ve forced into the wood to rise. Once a dent has turned into an extruded bump, it should be possible to sand it even (once cool, of course.)
Come down and see us at Kioreroa Road where we usually have a modest range of the glues, resins, paints, sealants and more that you need to improve the wood you’re working on. We’re proud to often stock slabs of native timber wood, more panels of plywood, and of course we stock piles and posts too.