Many years ago a teacher told me that you could steam out a dent in a piece of wood (one where the wood fibers had been compressed, not a where they had been removed) using a wet rag and an iron.
This technique was meant for unfinished wood, but unfortunately, most of the wood we deal with in our homes has some sort of finish on it. With some research I learned that this technique can work with finished wood but it depends greatly on the type of finish you are dealing with. So I decided to do a couple of tests to see the results for myself.
NOTE: BE CAREFUL! SOME FINISHES MIGHT TURN WHITE WHEN EXPOSED TO STEAM. PLEASE TRY THIS IN A HIDDEN AREA BEFORE DOING IT IN A VISIBLE PLACE.
The first test was a on a birch table from IKEA. Although this technique works better on new dents I decided to try to steam out a dent that had been there for quite a long time.
Here is what I did:
1. Wet the dent
2. Apply a wet cloth or paper towel
3. With the iron on High apply the iron to the wet paper towel or cloth and make a circular motion, don't keep it in just one position as this might burn the surface of the towel. Make sure there is a lot of steam being generated. Do this for a few minutes and check your results. In my case I did this for about 3-5 minutes.
The dent came up almost completely and there was no damage to the finish!
My second test was on our hardwood floors. I found a dent that was pretty deep. I followed the same steps as above.
Although the dent came up, the surface of the finish had been broken and some dirt had gotten in side the cracks. If you know what type of finish you are dealing with you might want carefully sand the area and reapply the finish.
In the spirit of this experiment I tried sanding and got most of it out. Then I applied some Tung Oil that I had at home. It's probably not the same as the original finish but the area certainly looks better than before. Here is my result:
Has anyone else given this method a try? Have any other fixes to recommend? Please share your smarts in the comments...
(Images: Natalie Espinosa)
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Comments (14)
This is great! I'm definitely going to try it!
Here's my tip: Dents in carpets (from furniture legs sitting on them for a long time) come right out if you put an ice cube in the middle of the dent. Leave the ice cube alone and let it melt completely. Within a few hours the dent will be totally gone.
Great post. As a wood flooring manufacturer I've had my experience with dents and dings in wood floors. You are correct this technique will work. On older floors that may have wax on them you do run the risk of making a white halo in the finish so good tip on trying it in an inconspicuous place first. Also when trying to sand out any grit and refinish be careful when attempting this over large areas or in very visible areas because of the risk of contaminating finishes. Don't every use Endust or Pledge or any other wax furniture polishes on wood floors as it could cause problems if you ever refinish the floor in the future.
Thanks for sharing
Sam
woodflooringtrends.com
Amazing! This is such a great trick to know since I buy and sell so many wood pieces.
If you do have wax on your floors, you can wash it off before trying this.
Then check what finish you have on the floors--older, pre-polyurethane floors sometimes have shellack finishes that can easily be fixed in spots.
Great tip! I can't wait to try one some dents my old roommate made in my new floors. I told her to wait to move some furniture she'd built in the living room, that I would help her carry it. Alas I came home the next day to see drag marks where she'd taken it upon herself to move the dresser. I was so mad.
I'm so excited! I have giant gashes all over my floors, especially where someone pulled out the stove and dishwasher in the kitchen. It's always bugged me.
STREA13, I can imagine! Better to try and fix it than look at it every time and think of her.
@lisamfb
Hm... does it matter what material the carpet is? (Kind of imagine it could....)
such a great tip! irons on wood always seems scary, but i have used it to pull out white marks on wood caused by a hot cup or bowl and water marks.
Thank you, great tip!!! Just this morning I notices these dents in my hardwood floor, by the entrance, that I think came from someone waring high heals. I will try this technique now !!
Tried this recently on a table that was damaged during moving. Worked well--did not completely raise the dent but visibly it was removed.
I did have a small issue with it opening the fibers of the surrounding wood, so for future users I might suggest using the edge of the iron to only heat the dent, or a soldering iron. Sanding took down the hairs and it is smooth again, but it was an extra step you may be able to avoid.
could i use a wet rag and use my steam mop over it instead of an iron? the mop generates more steam, my iron kind of spurts it out periodically...
This is a fantastic tip that I will be trying on my bamboo floors! I recently installed them as a DIY and they are beautiful...was told that bamboo was relatively hard and resistant to scratching...NOT so!
I had mark free floors, until I got a cat...now, there are cat scratch marks in the areas without area rugs. :(
Since I won't be getting rid of my kitty, I hope this tip will work on the scratches...I may be doing this for a long time!
I would love to know how this works on the bamboo floors, I just got them too, also thought it was a harder floor and now I have some serious scratch marks from my dogs running for the door everytime someone comes home! Not really scratches in the wood, more like dented scratches, but the bamboo has a kind of oxide finish on it
Wow the technique is really amazing and useful!!! Thanks for saving my furniture's beauty from dents. I can't imagine until I read your article that the dent can be removed only with the help of an iron and wet cloth or paper towel. But my question is that can I use this techniques for all types of white wood furniture. I am afraid that if I use the hot iron over the varnished furniture then what may happen? Anyway, thanks for sharing.