Always, Best if you find the old chip piece and if it fits good, just glue and clamp back into place, if not will need to cut out the corner, glue and clamp in a replacement piece, then sand and finish. This kind of repair is best left to a professional, if like the results to be as good as before.

I think the piece that chipped out was pulverized in the process, but I will see what I can find tomorrow in the truck bed. It sounds like the repair will look like a repair if I do it myself. As long as it doesn't look as obviously damaged as it looks right now I'd be happy.

What about those wood filler kits I've seen online, are they any good?

Depends upon the size of the chip and surrounding damage, but a "burn in repair" would be the standard professional way of repairing this type of damage. It might also work to use an epoxy putty repair or polyester fill repair. Any of these would need some color adjustments. These types of repairs are not usually for the inexperienced.

I'm not sure what "online wood filler kits" you are referring to.

I included a link to one of the kits I'm talking about.

Maybe I'll contact a local furniture repair shop and ask them what it would cost. It didn't even occur to me until just now.

Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: online wood filler kit

Sorry, I'm not familiar with that repair kit and I can't tell what is in it.

I stopped at my local hardware store this afternoon and there was a display of these kits right inside the door. I opened it up and found the fill material about the viscosity of latex paint. The instructions say to match the color, fill the hole and let it dry.

I will warn you the colors are primary colors (yellow, blue, red), along with black, white, and brown. You would need to have some pretty good color matching skills to get a good color match. Assuming you have a good color match (realizing wood is not a single color), you then need other attributes for a good repair -- level, sheen, texture, and grain pattern. Lots of luck on that.

The fill is also supposed to work for counter tops and floors.

Do a search for "furniture medic" in your area. If you are in or near a big city you can generally find a medic who will repair the wood at a reasonable cost.

Please. I have seen FM's work in this area and seen what they charge. "Reasonable cost" would not be my description. I know there is lots of room for individual variance between franchisees, but they would be my last choice.

I'm not part of the furniture medic franchise but I am a professional furniture restorer with over 40 years experience.

The cost of out of pocket expenses to make a home visit and do a small repair is what makes the cost seem "high". If you had to purchase all the equipment and pay the overhead I think you would feel differently. Another bite out of a furniture medic profit margin is the franchise fees.

All that being said you can usually get a lower cost by using a non franchise shop and bringing the item to their shop is cheaper than them coming to you.

Some repairs can look bad and hard to fix (so we think expensive) to someone not familiar with this type of restoration, however they are easily repaired at a small cost. Other such repairs can look small and easy to repair when the opposite is the reality.

This type of work is not difficult if you have experience and the proper tools. What you want to be careful about is taking on a project, not knowing how to do it properly, then making it worse and costing you more in the long run to get it repaired.

Here is a short video on the touch-up process that takes place after the chip is filled. http://furniturerepair.net/touchup1.htm

After you view the video there will be several other video links to show other repair/touch-up processes. All these will give you some understanding of the process so you can evaluate if you want to take on the job yourself.

To find a shop near your location try http://ProRestorers.org

Here is a link that might be useful: Spot Touch-up Video

I understand the overhead of on-site work; I am in this business. All told, today was a 12-hour day, with 5 billable hours. Travel, traffic detours and a wasted trip took its normal toll; paperwork and phone calls took the rest.

What I have seen is work done by FMs that is 3 to 4 times as expensive, and would not meet my standards for repair. I don't mean to bad-mouth all of them, I'm just saying, not making them an automatic choice is my point.

Oh, and posting a link to your business web site is sort of frowned upon, however helpful it might be.

Here is a link that might be useful: Business terms of use