Calling All Your Woodworking Experts

[ssullivan]

Recently, I have been installing heat shielding in preparation for the installation of our wood stove.

The heat shielding is made of stainless sheet metal and some fireproof insulation. I'll post photos when done.

Anyway, like a moron, I accidentally dragged a sharp edge across some varnished teak. Now I have a gouge.

The gouge isn't very deep, but I think it was just deep enough to make a small scratch in the teak under the varnish. The varnish is 25 yrs old, apparently, as it is not incredibly lustrous.

Is there a good way to spot-treat a scratch like this?

[Tropic Cat]

Sean,

I don't know what kind of varnish they used when they built the boat. When it came time to refinish my interior, I took the old finish off completely, right down to bare wood and put 5 coats of Helmsman® Spar Urethane on. You've seen the results.

The procedure for your particular situation is to sand around the scratch, right down to bare wood. Then grab a wet face towel or any material that holds moisture and with a hot iron , steam the scratch through the towel. If not too deep the wood fibers , in the scratch, should swell and level the area. Lastly, unfortunately, I doubt you can match the finish with a spot varnish. You will probably have to at least rough up and varnish a large enough area that the 'spot' blends in.

Or..... just slap a new finish on top of it and hope for the best.

[ssullivan]

Thanks, Rick.

I guess it might be an excuse to spend some time re-varnishing, since I probably won't be able to match the rest of the varnish (good point).

[Morgan Paul]

Most likely the scratch is lighter than the surrounding wood. If that is the case, than get a small can of Minwax stain that comes close to the color of the wood and rub it into the scratch.

[Alan Wheeler]

Buy a small tin of "Danish Oil" and with a rag, just wipe it over the damage. Danish Oil dries and will look just like the varnish. If you give the old varnish a good wash with "sugarsoap" you can then wipe the Danish oil right over the area and it will result in lifting the gloss a little. It will not be super glossy like sprayed laquer, so don't use it if that is what you want.

[knottybuoyz]

Use a wax crayon the closest color you can get to match. Furniture restorers use this trick all the time.

[David M]

I have used teak filler for such things. I have built a number of things out of teak for the boat. The color is close enough. No, its not perfect but you wont notice it unless it was a major gash.

Besides, scratches give your britework "character".

[Weyalan]

You could try mixing a bit of epoxy with some teak sawdust and filling the scratch, then sanding, then varnishing...

[David M]

I second Weyalan's idea. I have done that too when using epoxy.

[cptnandy]

Years ago while building a new bowsprit for a customer of mine I had a deep chip in the finished product. I fixed it by filling the gash with a clear epoxy (special clear coating made by west) and then sprayed on the finish. The chip was invisible in the finished product.
Don’t mix in teak sawdust!!! Doing that will wipe out the grain and you will forever be able to see the spot !