Repairing a serious scratch to the teak

[River Bank]

I have a serious scratch on the head door, about a foot long.
Could I get some suggestions on how to refinish the scratched area or do I have to refinish the entire door?

Bob

 

[Irish Mist]

You could try sanding the area with a fine sand paper then applying some teak oil.. The trick is the different texture in wood takes the finish different.. If you apply oil on the scratch as is it will appear darker then the rest of the door The other problem is the door is plywood so the teak layer is not really thick so you can not be really aggressive with sanding .. It is a tricky repair.
Good luck

 

[workingdogs]

You should use a technique called wet sanding . Using 320 or 400 grit wet/dry paper first brush a section of the door with teak or Danish oil , then sand it right away . This creates a slurry which fills pores and scratches . Do the entire door this way , then buff by hand with a cotton cloth . The scratch will not disappear but will look much better . As already stated , your options are fairly limited with that thin veneer on the plywood . It is possible to over veneer the plywood on the door and while the results would look like new , it's fairly involved and would require someone with experience in the area .

 

[knotflying]

Bill,
You did not mention if the scratch was on the inside of the door or the outside. The outside has a different finish, probably an applied oil. You also did not say how deep the scratch was. A minor scratch on the outside of the door should come out by sanding with a fine grit paper (100 or 120) over the entire door and then reapply oil. I usually use Pledge revitalizing orange oil. A deeper scratch may require starting with a heavier grit (60) at the scratch and then working your way out. Then progressively use finer grit. Be careful since this is only a veneer on the door and you do not want to wear it to the lower layer.
Another option is a nice picture over the scratch, providing it is high enough on the door. 😀

 

[tugfan]

If it really bothers you, there are guys who do furniture finish repairs which are almost invisible. They use wax sticks and an alcohol burner and blend the wax to match and then fill in the damage. Most areas have them if you check the yellow pages (boy, did I just date myself), Google furniture repair in your city or town. I would check that option before you sand.
Good luck.

Bill

 

[River Bank]

Thank you all for the suggestions.
After careful consideration and knowing my limitations I've decided to go with Bill's suggestion and contact a professional furniture repair company.
Thanks again, Bob

 

[nzfisher]

I know that I am a little late on responding but the first thing you should do is determine if you have a scratch or a dent. A scratch will have torn and ripped fibers, a dent will have primarily displaced fibers. If it is a dent or dent scratch you can repeatedly soak the affected area with warm water until the fibers are saturated. Then use an iron with a clean face, a Teflon coated iron is best, and on medium heat carefully apply the iron to the face of the soaked scratched area. Heat until the area is quite hot but not so hot as to burn or discolor the area. If the face of the iron is discolored before you start you risk discoloring your wood. Woodworkers cover the area with thin cotton cloth but as the area you are working with is vertical, this will be hard to do. The saturation heat process will return the displaced dented fibers to 70-80% of there original shape. Typically the rest can be sanded out. If you don't sand the entire surface the "fixed" area will show as it will have sanding marks that are apparent in flat light. The best way to do this procedure would be to remove the door and make the repair flat. You will need to start sanding at about 150 grit working your way up to maybe 220 using zinc stearate paper. Finally finish using whatever oil is on the door rubbing with 0000 steel wool in swirling motion to obscure the sanding marks. Be carful not to sand through the veneer on the door. It can take a fair amount of sanding before you work through it however.