I built some mission style benches a few months ago, turned out really
really nice. Built all out of Oak, used Watco Danish oil for a subfinish,
then used a poly shade to get the right depth of color. Finally got
everything right and they look awesome. I used oak plywood for the top of
the bench as I liked that idea of a single grain pattern across the bench.
I edge banded the sides with oak and put 4" cleats around the edges behind
the edge band for added strength. They do not move, bend, flex with 3 heavy
adults sitting on them, they're awesome!
Walking past them the other night and I notice a blemish on the surface.
Upon closer inspection, it looked like someone had dented the wood. The
size is about the same as a dime, but what's happened as I guess the oak
veneer had a small bubble or depression underneath it, and the veneer has
caved into the depression. My first thought was to pump glue into the space
to fill in the void and lift the veneer, but I don't know if that will work
as there's several coats of poly on top of it and the surrounding wood is
pretty stiff, not like an unfinished veneer.
so the question is how to repair this? I've thought about making a small
template, taping it to the bench, and then using a router, rout out the area
and fill in with a patch. I then have to re-stain and re-poly the area but
I'm worried about getting the same color with the watco and poly shade.
Any ideas? And BTW - Does Oak plywood usually have these problems? That
was probably the flaw in my design, using that instead of edgegluing some
stock together. I was just trying to save wood for future projects that
deserved it!
Thanks in advance
Mike Rinken
On Thu, 20 May 2004 16:16:29 -0600, "Creamy Goodness" <creamy at
agbf1942 dot com> wrote:
>
>Any ideas? And BTW - Does Oak plywood usually have these problems? That
>was probably the flaw in my design, using that instead of edgegluing some
>stock together. I was just trying to save wood for future projects that
>deserved it.
Hardwood plywood varies in the number of voids that may be
encountered.
Sometimes a wash coat of lacquer thinner will reveal the voids, as the
thinner flashes off less quickly in the area of the void.
Tapping the surface with your finger is more reliable but slower.
The fix I would use in your situation would be to take a syringe
(hypodemic nerdle, keith) filled with gap filling glue. Cover the
area of the void with plastic wrap, penetrate the veneer and insert
the glue, until you see it begin to come out around the entry point of
the needle.
Put some more plastic wrap down over the area and clamp a flat board
on top.
I would let this sit for about forty-eight hours before removing the
board.
HTH.
Regards,
Tom.
Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.)
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1
Mike G wrote:
>> so the question is how to repair this? I've thought about making a
>> small template, taping it to the bench, and then using a router,
>> rout out the area and fill in with a patch. I then have to re-stain
>> and re-poly the area but I'm worried about getting the same color
>> with the watco and poly shade.
>>
>
> What you are proposing is called a "dutchman" and should work.
> However, to make it as seamless as possible you will want to make the
> shape irregular. A circular or square dutchman will be very evident..
>
> An elongated diamond shape with the long ends of the diamond
> orientated in the direction of the grain and closely matching stock
> would work well.
Well wish me luck. I'll try this weekend.
Thanks all.
Tom Watson wrote:
> On Thu, 20 May 2004 16:16:29 -0600, "Creamy Goodness" <creamy at
> agbf1942 dot com> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> Any ideas? And BTW - Does Oak plywood usually have these problems?
>> That was probably the flaw in my design, using that instead of
>> edgegluing some stock together. I was just trying to save wood for
>> future projects that deserved it.
>
> Hardwood plywood varies in the number of voids that may be
> encountered.
>
> Sometimes a wash coat of lacquer thinner will reveal the voids, as the
> thinner flashes off less quickly in the area of the void.
>
> Tapping the surface with your finger is more reliable but slower.
>
> The fix I would use in your situation would be to take a syringe
> (hypodemic nerdle, keith) filled with gap filling glue. Cover the
> area of the void with plastic wrap, penetrate the veneer and insert
> the glue, until you see it begin to come out around the entry point of
> the needle.
>
> Put some more plastic wrap down over the area and clamp a flat board
> on top.
>
> I would let this sit for about forty-eight hours before removing the
> board.
>
>
> HTH.
>
>
>
>
>
> Regards,
> Tom.
>
> Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.)
> tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
> http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1
Can I get enough pressure out of this to raise the dent? The veneer has
cracked around the edges which I'm afraid will just bleed out glue and not
actually raise the veneer.
And I did do the finger tap on a few areas I could hear when sanding. I
filled one or two very small voids and they have held up fine. I have no
clue why I missed this one.
Thanks Tom. Love your projects BTW.
Ok, good luck, let us know how you make out.
--
Mike G.
[email protected]
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Creamy Goodness" <creamy at agbf1942 dot com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Mike G wrote:
> >> so the question is how to repair this? I've thought about making a
> >> small template, taping it to the bench, and then using a router,
> >> rout out the area and fill in with a patch. I then have to re-stain
> >> and re-poly the area but I'm worried about getting the same color
> >> with the watco and poly shade.
> >>
> >
> > What you are proposing is called a "dutchman" and should work.
> > However, to make it as seamless as possible you will want to make the
> > shape irregular. A circular or square dutchman will be very evident..
> >
> > An elongated diamond shape with the long ends of the diamond
> > orientated in the direction of the grain and closely matching stock
> > would work well.
>
>
> Well wish me luck. I'll try this weekend.
>
> Thanks all.
>
>
> so the question is how to repair this? I've thought about making a small
> template, taping it to the bench, and then using a router, rout out the
area
> and fill in with a patch. I then have to re-stain and re-poly the area
but
> I'm worried about getting the same color with the watco and poly shade.
>
What you are proposing is called a "dutchman" and should work. However, to
make it as seamless as possible you will want to make the shape irregular. A
circular or square dutchman will be very evident..
An elongated diamond shape with the long ends of the diamond orientated in
the direction of the grain and closely matching stock would work well.
--
Mike G.
[email protected]
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
On Thu, 20 May 2004 16:59:59 -0600, "Creamy Goodness" <creamy at
agbf1942 dot com> brought forth from the murky depths:
>John wrote:
>> Never had that problem with oak plywood, and I have no idea how to
>> fix it. Sorry.
>>
>> Why did you use oil as a subfinish? What does that gain over just
>> polyshade?
>
>Well to be honest, I started off with the watco trying to get a dark enough
>finish but couldn't. I needed to add some red and darker hues to the
>finish, and wanted to poly it as they're benches for our family of 7 and
Oh, I see. Now that it's stained an polyed, just use a small
3-lb sledge to pound out the dents from the inside.
Na worries, mate.
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John wrote:
> Never had that problem with oak plywood, and I have no idea how to
> fix it. Sorry.
>
> Why did you use oil as a subfinish? What does that gain over just
> polyshade?
Well to be honest, I started off with the watco trying to get a dark enough
finish but couldn't. I needed to add some red and darker hues to the
finish, and wanted to poly it as they're benches for our family of 7 and
would see a lot of heavy use. The poly-shades offered me a way to add the
color and poly at the same time. I came very close to the finish on the
(shocker!) store bought table (it was exactly the one SWMBO wanted so I
thought, gee $400 and I don't have to hear her complain how it isn't done
yet) with the poly shades so I was happy with that.
I wiped off the excess and then let the watco sit for 5-6 days before
applying the Poly. Worked fine. Of course being in Colorado where it's
extremely dry all the time, I had no problems with dry time.
What about the old 'steam iron and damp rag' to raise the grain? I just
don't know how deep the dent is.
Creamy Goodness wrote:
> I built some mission style benches a few months ago, turned out really
> really nice. Built all out of Oak, used Watco Danish oil for a subfinish,
> then used a poly shade to get the right depth of color. Finally got
> everything right and they look awesome. I used oak plywood for the top of
> the bench as I liked that idea of a single grain pattern across the bench.
> I edge banded the sides with oak and put 4" cleats around the edges behind
> the edge band for added strength. They do not move, bend, flex with 3 heavy
> adults sitting on them, they're awesome!
>
> Walking past them the other night and I notice a blemish on the surface.
> Upon closer inspection, it looked like someone had dented the wood. The
> size is about the same as a dime, but what's happened as I guess the oak
> veneer had a small bubble or depression underneath it, and the veneer has
> caved into the depression. My first thought was to pump glue into the space
> to fill in the void and lift the veneer, but I don't know if that will work
> as there's several coats of poly on top of it and the surrounding wood is
> pretty stiff, not like an unfinished veneer.
>
> so the question is how to repair this? I've thought about making a small
> template, taping it to the bench, and then using a router, rout out the area
> and fill in with a patch. I then have to re-stain and re-poly the area but
> I'm worried about getting the same color with the watco and poly shade.
>
> Any ideas? And BTW - Does Oak plywood usually have these problems? That
> was probably the flaw in my design, using that instead of edgegluing some
> stock together. I was just trying to save wood for future projects that
> deserved it!
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Mike Rinken
>
>
On Thu, 20 May 2004 17:33:29 -0600, "Creamy Goodness" <creamy at
agbf1942 dot com> wrote:
>Can I get enough pressure out of this to raise the dent? The veneer has
>cracked around the edges which I'm afraid will just bleed out glue and not
>actually raise the veneer.
>
If the edges are cracked you prolly can't use the method I described.
What you might try is to look at a piece of the cutoffs from the ply,
determine the depth of the band that sits below the veneer and drill
from below to just that point. See if you can insert a blunted finish
nail into the hole and push gently on the back side of the veneer.
If you can move the veneer in this way, I'd drill a hole out, as big
as the void, being real careful about the depth, and insert a solid
plug, with a little bit of glue on the face.
>
>Thanks Tom. Love your projects BTW.
Tendchoobellymush.
Regards,
Tom.
Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.)
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1
Larry Jaques wrote:
> On Thu, 20 May 2004 16:59:59 -0600, "Creamy Goodness" <creamy at
> agbf1942 dot com> brought forth from the murky depths:
>
>> John wrote:
>>> Never had that problem with oak plywood, and I have no idea how to
>>> fix it. Sorry.
>>>
>>> Why did you use oil as a subfinish? What does that gain over just
>>> polyshade?
>>
>> Well to be honest, I started off with the watco trying to get a dark
>> enough finish but couldn't. I needed to add some red and darker
>> hues to the finish, and wanted to poly it as they're benches for our
>> family of 7 and
>
> Oh, I see. Now that it's stained an polyed, just use a small
> 3-lb sledge to pound out the dents from the inside.
>
Correction - use a large sledge hammer to extend the dent outward until the
entire surface is recessed to match the flaw. Of course, this will result
in an overall thickness somewhat thinner than what the OP started with, but
a nice thin, even coat of filler can bring it back to the original
thickness.
--
-Mike-
[email protected]