Hi AT - I recently purchased a table off craigslist, and am happy to say I got it at a fraction of the retail price. However, as is sometimes expected the item is in not-new condition. There are some small scratches in the top, and one area where what appears to be the black veneer has been torn off (about 1/4 inch). After some interweb research, it appears that a wax putty stick would be the best way to patch/repair. Has anyone had any experience using this type of product to restore/repair veneer/wood? Thanks!
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Comments (10)
From my experience, they do cover scratches, but not as well as you would hope. At a distance the scratches sorta "disappear" but the closer you get to the scratch the more you see it.
Didn't work at ALL for me on the hardwood floor...
Yeah, I don't know if they'd work very well on floors but my architectural/interior design firm uses those things all the time on furniture. We have ones from Selva.
It works great on scratches and gouges - but won't do much for the overall color...
...I highly recommend Howard's Restor-A-Finish to help rejuvenate the overall color and cover minor scratches in old furniture.
The wax sticks did not work for me. I second the Howard's Restor-A-Finish for wood.
Thanks all for your recommendations. However, this is a veneer, so it doesn't seem that Howard's would really do much good. I'm gonna give these little crayon-like thingys a try, and will let you know the results!
Another cheap solution... I use Prismacolor markers (I have a gazillion shades of brown) to fill in dings and scratches! Works especially good for flooring :)
"However, this is a veneer, so it doesn't seem that Howard's would really do much good."
Yes - there's not much that can be done for missing chunks of veneer other than to take it to a professional restorer to piece in the missing veneer...
...however for minor scratches, Howard's works better than you'd think - I purchased a secretary that had tons of scratches on the veneered work surface and the Restor-a-Finish cleaned it right up - I can't even see the scratches any more.
Marthag: hahaha, I was about to recommend the Prismacolors as well.
I use them all the time. If they worked well enough in design school to create a "wood looking" piece of furniture or floor on my renderings, I thought for sure they could work on my wood veneer bookcase! Mix a couple of shades together and do a little blotting and BOOM, you've got a repair. It's not perfect, but the wax just hardens and comes out over time.
I have used wax sticks on furniture and had great results. I just bought a Haywood Wakefield dresser, which my cats scratched the first day! I bought two wax sticks. I held one in my hand until it became soft, the other was harder so I put it in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time until it was the consistancy I wanted. I rubbed the softened wax into the scratch and blended the color a litte to match the finish - then gently removed the residue with a paper towel. The result was fantastic! You can't tell that it was dammaged.
Oh - and I now have a glass top for the dresser.