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How To Fix Chipped Wood Corners And Feet On Furniture
In this Tutorial, Rod will show you a technique we use when we have to repair gouges or missing pieces in more difficult areas such as corners, edges and feet.
Follow these directions with the step-by-step photos , and you'll gain the confidence and know- how enough to tackle this project on your own. Fixing Chipped Wood Corners And Feet On Furniture in high wear areas can be tricky. Done incorrectly, the filler won't hold and pops out as soon as you go to sand it. Sound familiar 🙂 Not anymore....
"How To" Video
A short instructional video from Mohawk Finishing showing how to best use Mohawk Epoxy Putty Sticks.
How To Fix Chipped Wood Corners And Feet On Furniture the right way might be one of the lessor known techniques in furniture repair. Many of us have done it. You fill a large gouge only to have the filler pop out and drop to the floor as soon as you begin to sand it smooth. There are a couple things to do when you find yourself in this situation.
Clean and sand the area to be filled
Fillers wont stick well in the presence of dust and dirt, so cleaning the area to be filled will go a long way in ensuring the filler sticks. Also, if the area was exposed to chemical stripper, be sure all residue has been removed by using steel wool or a Scotch Brite pad and a solvent like lacquer thinner, alcohol or mineral spirits
On Larger Areas, Use Brads or Nails For Support
In the tutorial below, we have a large piece of wood missing on the foot of a cedar chest.
The technique we use here To Fix Chipped Wood Corners And Feet On Furniture almost never fails and it's fairly simple.
Tools Needed:
1) Hammer
2) Finishing Nails or Brads of the appropriate size in relation to the area being filled
3) Quick Wood brand or Mohawk brand Epoxy Stick
4) Sandpaper
Below: To Begin the repair, use one of your nails and carefully drive it into the area being filled deep enough so that the nail won't protrude after sanding.
Use as many nails as needed. Usually two to four is sufficient. For this repair, I will use three.
Why The Nails?
The nails will now give our filler something to grip and bond to. This give our repair super strength. It's similar to using rebar in concrete. Next Step. Below, I am using Quick Wood epoxy as my filler on this repair. I'm choosing Quick Wood because of the location on the foot. I need the strongest material at my disposal on a foot, and that is an Epoxy Stick. Feet and corners always get Quick Wood, while other areas I may opt for a softer filler.
When working with Quick Wood, I like to trim it and shape it before it hardens. Trim with a razor blade and smooth it out using water and your finger. When using Bondo, trim with a razor blade within 5 minutes of applying. Doing this will minimize sanding, as both materials will become harder than some species of wood.
Below: Using 120 sandpaper on the orbital sander, I sanded smooth. I sanded the inside edge and bottom by hand, and with a detail sander.
That's about all there is to it. Follow all the steps outlined above and this repair method will almost never fail.
Finishing Note:
None of the fillers mentioned in this tutorial accept stain. The epoxy sticks do come in many wood tones, and we have supplied links to them in In this tutorial.
