Raising dents in wood

[Smokehouse69]

A guy that refinishes furniture gave me some hints years ago on raising dents in wood. His suggestion was that before you place any kind finish on a piece of wood, after you have scrubbed and removed as much of the old finish as you can, you can "raise" some dents by using steam.
If you take a very sharp needle and prick the surface of the wood, not deep holes, just small holes barely below the surface. Then place several layers of wet cloth over the depressed area, then take a hot soldering iron and press it down into the cloth.
Leave it in place until the cloth stops steaming (dry) then redampen and repeat. If you are lucky after several treatments over several days the dent will raise up to the previous level of the surounding wood. Sometimes it actually raises the dent above the surrounding wood. Sanding will smooth out the raised surface.

[XO3319]

Good tips on that

My gunsmith/engraver friend from Griffin and Howe uses a heated piece of brass barstock and a damp soft cloth, which works well

I just anted up for the stock iron from Brownell's

[weasel_master]

I got an old clothes steamer from a store in the mall that they were getting rid of. I have plans to use that in the future.

[M1 Tanker]

I have always used the electric iron, seems to work fine.

[okie shooter]

Steam is the key, and keeping it on the surface of the wood(forceing the cellulose fibers to expand), many times you dont even need to do any prep to the wood, just damp cloth and clothing iron works well. Never thought about the steamers for clothing too. I wonder if one of those steam cleaners would work. They would generate plenty of steam for sure.

[Jagman]

For severely dented stocks i put the electric kettle on and let it boil - on mine if you leave the lid open it does not turn off - just boils away.
I work the stock in the steam directly keeping it moving and never staying in one place for more than a couple of seconds, this will deffinately raise the dents and the grain too, and it will leach out any leftover cosmo under the surface, you have to lightly sand the stock after this treatment to get rid of the raised wood fibres, and because of the sanding I would not reccomend this method for a stock you want to keep in origonal trim, it will raise cartouches also.
Jagman

[Longhorn789]

I have always used the electric iron, seems to work fine.


+1

Just depends on if the dent is creased. In other words, if the grain is broken. If not, it will come out usually pretty good.

[rep30cal]

Yep, many moons ago we did the hot barstock on wet towels trick
in wood shop to raise dents in our clocks or other projects. Works
great, we would lay a wet towel down and roll the really hot bar
stock over the dent until the towel was dry and repeat if needed.

[k98k792]

I use an electric iron also.
Me " Honey,it's time to buy you a new iron."
She "But I like the one I have."
Me " How do you feel about cosmoline?"

[Longhorn789]

I use an electric iron also.
Me " Honey,it's time to buy you a new iron."
She "But I like the one I have."
Me " How do you feel about cosmoline?"

Give your clothes that "fresh from the armory" smell..:icon_smile:

[XO3319]

That is how I got the old toaster oven K98!