Minor scratches

[bassmansimon]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if you could give some advice on how to deal with minor scratches in old furniture? See photo below - beer bottle lid provided as size reference.
The scratches are fairly superficial and don't go deep, but they show up very easily on this old couch.

Many thanks,
Simon.

[Evanism]

I saw some very cool crayons on Rockler. They seemed to come in about 20 base colours. There was an article on AWW on how they used them for these scratches.....something like these:

Liberon Repair, Renovate, Revive Kit - Rockler Woodworking Tools or Colour Chart For Wax Putty Bricks-Wax Filler Sticks-Furniture Repair Crayons | Furniture Care Products

[bassmansimon]

Thanks for the tip. Looks like a reasonable price for the set of crayons too.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Thanks for the tip. Looks like a reasonable price for the set of crayons too.

Hi, the wax sticks are great for dings and scratches in fairly protected areas but may not work very well in any area that gets wear or rubbing. It just rubs off.

I can't tell from the photo but it looks like that edge may be pretty exposed. If it is then you may need a tougher repair. The photo seems to show that the timber is quite light and the colour comes from the finish applied. Is that the case?

I have repaired some office furniture at my work that has timber and finish that looks a bit like your piece (from the photo anyway). In my case the wood (supposedly Mahogany) is actually some Asian timber with good figure but no colour of its own and the Mahogany colour came out of a bottle. The finish seemed to be some kind of spray lacquer. I either used some spirit stain (Mahogany colour) with some clear polyurethane or else some polyurethane pre-stained Mahogany colour. That has lasted the years.

I rush to add - I would never, never do that with a French polished antique, it would be sacrilege. But, something with a spray lacquer finish - well, its just a case of make it look OK and stand up to the wear.

If your piece is French polished a bit of spirit stain and some shellac based finish (UBeaut sell ready made shellac based suitable finishes) will do the trick and be easily repairable and reversible if needed.

Good luck.