Fix Dents In Wood

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THE IDEA:

• Minimize or remove dents in wood floors and/or furniture

THE CLAIM:

• Using an iron and a damp cloth you can steam out a dent within just a few minutes

THE RESULT:

• SUCCESS!

To test this idea I made a few dents in an unfinished wood shelf I had never actually put up. I made 3 separate dents trying to keep them at varying degrees of depth. I just used a cheap wash rag I had lying around and our crappy old iron. I started out with just a mildly damp rag but after a few passes I realized that it needed to be thoroughly damp, almost wet for this to really work.

This is the first dent and the most shallow.

This is the 2nd dent which was the deepest.

And this was the 3rd which ended up with a chip I ended up picking out of the middle but otherwise the depth of the dent was between the other two.

I took my wash rag, wet it, and dripped water over each dent completely covering them.

The instructions said to turn the iron temperature on high and press in circular motions, making sure to create enough steam.

Plenty of steam!

These are the results for Dent #1. For this dent the results were quite impressive. The dent came up completely only leaving a slight mark showing where the dent originally was.

Where's the dent? Can you tell where it was? The remnants of it are technically there but it came up so well that it's barely visible!

Just for the sake of showing how well it worked. I grabbed a 120 grit sanding sponge I had been using for a different project and spent about 15 seconds sanding out the little mark that was left.

I tried to show an angle where you could see how there's no indentation in the wood here.

And now the results of Dent #2! This one was the deepest one so while it did improve, it didn't take the dent away completely. I honestly wasn't really expecting it to because the implication from the description of the pin was that this method would work on more minor dents.

Finally, Dent #3. This one also came out completely. The section in the middle was the chip so if you'll notice, everything around it is no longer indented.

So, overall it seems this method would work quite well for a dent in your hardwood, coffee table, or whatever other wood furniture you have with minor dents in it. Not gonna lie, after this worked out so well I started going around my house with that damp rag leaving wafts of steam everywhere I went!