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TOOLS & TECHNIQUES SERIES
FAST FIXES
Need to repair a dent, chipout, or a scratch? Check out these quick, project-saving solutions.
ven now, Im not sure exactly how it happened. I thought the clamp was securely in its holder on the wall. But as my hand let go of it, I realized the clamp was falling. And that it was going to hit the drop-front desk Id just finished assembling. It was one of those times when everything slows down, and your muscles just wont respond. As if epoxied to the floor, I stood there watching as the clamp put a long gash into the side of the desk. And nothing puts a scratch into a piece of wood like a fivepound clamp.
Most accidents arent so drastic, and many projects go together without any mishap. Still, you can expect an accident like this at some point. Other times, the damage isnt caused by a catastrophe. Its just a bump in the building process. Like the chipout that occurs on the last pass around a large glued-up panel. Then there are those small dents and scratches that seem to appear mysteriously. It may have been caused by a glob of dried glue that the top of the table was set on. Or a tiny piece of sandpaper grit that did
not get cleaned off and then was wiped across the surface. Fortunately, theres typically a good solution for removing the damage (or at least minimizing it). And remember, people arent looking for mistakes sometimes a little camouflaging can go a long way. In fact, if you do a good job at the repair, you might just find yourself pointing it out to others. After all, you can be as proud of a good repair as a tight joint. Besides, everyone likes to hear disaster stories when they have a happy ending.
Dents
At the time, a dent can seem like a major disaster. What was a smooth, clean face now has a deep indentation. And of course, if you know the dent is there, your eye will always be drawn to that spot. You can relax. Most dents can be completely removed or at least minimized a great deal. Thats because a dent is just a small area where the wood fibers have been compressed (not broken or severed) by a blunt object, like a clamp. The trick is to reverse the compression, forcing the wood to swell back to its original level. And the solution comes from an unlikely source water. Usually I try to keep water away from wood. But here it can be used to force the fibers to expand. If the dent is a small one, simply place a drop or two of water on it to see if the { With a little steam from a hot iron (see photo at left), the compressed fibers cells swell back to shape. of a dent will swell back into place. Sometimes this is all it takes to do the trick. If this doesnt work or if its a large Doesnt this raise the grain? Yes. dent, you can help it along with an But I take a few precautions to avoid iron. To keep the wood from any problems. First I sometimes wet scorching, youll want to put a damp the entire face to raise the grain on the cotton rag under the iron. (Some syn- piece. More importantly, you need to thetic fabrics will melt.) The heat from be sure to sand the piece to the same the iron creates steam that penetrates grit that the rest of the project has into the wood, causing it to swell. been sanded to.
page 1 of 2 2004 August Home Publishing
One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
From Woodsmith magazine
All rights reserved
Chipout
Generally, by the time I start routing a profile along a large panel, theres already been a lot of work thats gone into the piece. Which is why chipout is so frustrating. It can mean a lot of work is ruined. But Ive learned that you dont always have to start over. When the chipout is minor, you can sometimes minimize it by sanding it out or by planing the thickness of the entire workpiece. As long as this doesnt affect the joinery, this will often get you by. When the chipout is a little more extensive, there are still a couple of options. Believe it or not, there have been times when Ive actually found the piece thats chipped out and have been able to glue it back into place. But most times, the chip is torn up or sucked into the vacuum. The last resort is to perform reconstructive surgery. First, to remove the chipout, I use a straight bit in the router table to create a small rabbet, as shown in Fig. 1. This rabbet leaves a straight edge that will accept a filler strip. To make the filler strip, the important thing is to find a scrap piece that matches the color and grain of the workpiece as closely as possible. I start with the filler strip slightly oversized and glue it into the rabbet (Fig. 2). Now the top surface can be sanded or planed flush, and the original profile can be routed along the edge (Fig. 2a).
1
Align bit with area of chipout
a.
Router fence
END VIEW Rout rabbet to remove chipout area
Round corner to match end of rabbet
a.
END VIEW Sand or plane top faces flush
Straight bit
Cut oversized filler strip to fit into rabbet
Rout filler strip to desired profile
Scratches & Gouges
How many times have you inadvertently dropped a clamp on a project? Or knocked a panel into a sharp corner? Scratches and gouges are probably the most common accidents that occur in the shop. Unfortunately, you cant reverse a scratch or gouge like you can a dent. The wood fibers have been broken or severed, so you have to sand, scrape, or fill the scratch to minimize the damage. SAND OR SCRAPE. The first thing I try to do is sand or scrape the scratch out. Both tools do the same job; the scraper just works a little more quickly than the sandpaper. And although there arent any special techniques for this process, there are a couple things to keep in mind. First, even though a scratch is small, you dont want to sand out just the scratch. You can end up with a depression thats still noticeable. Instead, you want to feather out the repair by sanding a much larger area around the scratch. Second, after youve removed the scratch, you need to make sure to sand the area to the same grit as the rest of the project. Otherwise, it wont accept the stain the same and can end up noticeably different.
PUTTY. If I cant sand or scrape out a scratch or gouge, as a last resort I will use putty. Here are two quick tips I use for getting the right color. First, if you add putty before you finish, then youll want to have a test piece with finish on it to compare it to. (This is especially true if youre planning to stain the project.) Second, getting a perfect match is nearly impossible. So for darker woods like walnut, I find the patch less noticeable if the putty is a shade darker. And the opposite is true for light woods (like maple). The putty should be slightly lighter. W
PUTTY TRICK
A little prevention always works better than the best fix. Once I was filling some nail holes with putty and smeared the putty around without much thought. But the putty stained lighter than the wood around it, so I was left with large ugly blotches (instead of tiny nail-sized spots). Fortunately, this accident can be prevented. Heres how I avoided it on my next project.
{ Before picking up the hammer and nails, first apply a strip of masking tape. Then drive and set the nails.
{ Now force putty into the holes and remove the tape. The small bump that remains can be sanded away.
From Woodsmith magazine
All rights reserved
page 2 of 2
2004 August Home Publishing
One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
