How to fix scratches on mahogany veneered table?

9 years ago

A few months ago I bought a beautiful but scratched mahogany table with piecrust veneers on Craigslist. I asked about some of the scratches in another thread that puzzled me because I couldn't see all the scratches on the surface of the finish. There were also some brown blotches that were probably filled with burn-in stick or something. Worst of all, there were also a few gouges through the finish to bare wood. I tried a few easy approaches, like polishing with fine automotive abrasive, rubbing with stain markers, misting on a little more lacquer, but like I feared, none of those helped for the worst of the damage. So now I stripped off (most of) the toning lacquer finish with a couple applications of Citristrip.

Unfortunately, the scratches are more visible than ever, because for some reason they are much darker than the wood. I assume this must be particles of pigment from glaze caught in the scratches? Or residue of the brown toning lacquer I can't get off even with stripper? Scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush did lighten the scratches, but I can't get all the color out. I have also lightly sanded which removed some color with 100 grit. I must be careful, because I believe the veneer is extremely thin.

Before stripping:

What to do now? I am considering:

1) Steaming the scratches and dents. (Will steam lift veneer?)

2) Scrubbing with MC or ATM stripper? Will this remove excess color better than Citristrip?

3) Sanding off any remaining color?

Note that the original manufacturer's finish has intentional distressing, which on the top is a bunch of round-ish marks sprinkled somewhat evenly everywhere. These don't bother me, but they also have the dark color collected in them.

After fixing the scratches, I plan to stain with some WD Lockwood dye, washcoat with shellac, maybe fill the pores with Pore-o-pac (the original finish didn't completely fill pores even though the lacquer film was quite thick), and then probably finish with wiping varnish. Similar to what was advised in this thread.

Thanks for any advice!

Featured Answer

barryv_gw

9 years ago

I would trying sanding very lightly with very fine sandpaper, then use a dye strain, try Woodcraft Supply if the there is one near you. As kudzu says, dark will be better than light. See what it looks like while the dye is still wet, if it looks pretty good, then once it is dry, apply a satin finish, it won't look brand new, but you shouldn't want that anyway. Once it is done, have a friend look at it, they probably won't notice any of the defects, when you work on a project you see more defects than others.

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Comments (7)

klem1
9 years ago
This isn't what you want to hear but others reading this with damaged finish they are thinking of repairing might find it helpful. If you don't have a game plan,ask advice BEFORE starting. If you have a game plan,before doing anything,wipe it thoughly with something meant for removing silicon. Exhaust all efforts before bringing stripper into the picture and before stripping,consider hireing a pro. I don't have any meaningful advice for this table but hopfully someone will.
andersons21
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for responding.

I did try several easier things before stripping. And, before stripping I cleaned with mineral spirits, degreaser, denatured alcohol, and TSP in hot water with microfiber. After TSP escpecially, the surface was extremely clean. I don't think I'll have any problems with silicone, but my game plan includes washcoat with shellac in any case.

I considered hiring a pro, but the fine light-colored scratches in the middle picture mostly couldn't be seen across the top surface of the finish, so they were defects below the finish. So I am pretty sure a pro had already sprayed some toning lacquer over these scratches, reducing their appearance but not eliminating them.

Just wondering if anyone has experience getting stain color out of scratches? Or if the color in these scratches will even matter if I use dye stain? I do have a game plan, and I have experience stripping and refinishing, but never on mahogany veneers like this.
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kudzu9
9 years ago
I think you can improve things, but don't expect to make all that damage disappear. As for the scratches, what you probably have at the micro level is a bunch of torn wood fibers that have soaked up more finish (hence more pigment) than the adjacent, undamaged wood. Sanding would help, except for the fact that you will probably go right through the veneer and then have it look worse. Your best approach may be to apply a fairly dark gel stain, which should give you more uniformity, The darkness will help ameliorate the damage that will continue to show up as dark spots, but the balance will be how dark to go, because hiding the damage will also mean hiding more of that veneer grain.
rwiegand
9 years ago
Probably the easiest solution if you don't want the "rustic" look would be to re-veneer the top. Not too big a deal for someone with the equipment and skills; a fairly challenging first-time DIY project. I'd suggest getting enough material to do it twice if you take it on as a DIY. Lots of books, articles, and videos out there on how to do it.
HU-45433609923
5 years ago
I have almost exact same table! Same scratches too! 😬 I also used citristrip and ran out. Turned to brake fluid, worked great! Sanded it down and was going to re-stain it. Too much Red tone for the person I was doing it for. Tried to tone it down with green, it helped but not enough. I ended up painting it. Pedestal bottom was cream and the table top (which was a starburst pattern that I had to hand paint the wood grain😫) I painted a grayish green. Turned out nice. I was happy with it. You are correct, the veneer tops are super thin!! Have you tried wood bleaching the table top? I’m about to do the same thing with a mahogan piano bench. Check this video out, I watched it earlier today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4h4AEFPxwM

and a couple of pics of the table I did similar to yours!
HU-555511768
5 years ago