A quick and easy way to mask scratches on your timber furniture

Antique dealers and removalists have known for years there is a quick and easy way of masking minor nicks and scratches in timber furniture.

Most of us have furniture which has a few scratches due to the rigours of life, but you don't have to spend the best part of a weekend stripping, sanding and refinishing a piece of stained timber furniture just to repair what is really only a minor blemish.

Felt-tip pens that contain oil-based timber stains can be used to mask those annoying minor scratches. The pens are available in five timber colours: black brown, dark brown, medium brown, light brown and red brown.

Three easy steps
The masking process is done in just three quick steps. But before you start, place the furniture where it is usually located. Choose the stain pen with the closest colour match to the timber and wait for good daylight so you make the best repair. On scratches across strongly grained timber, you can even use two pens that match the grain.

STEP 1 Use the less is more principle and sparingly dab the colour stain on the blemish in the direction of the grain. The stain will soak into the raw exposed lighter wood.

STEP 2 Immediately wipe with a clean cloth to remove the excess stain on the surface around the scratch. If the colour is still light, repeat the process until you have matched the colour.

STEP 3 When you are happy with the colour, let the stain dry for 5-10 minutes, then finish with wax or a clear finish and you'll hardly notice the damage.

Heavy-duty repairs
Furniture Rescue Boxes are available for really rough and tough households. As well as including the pens, it also has timber-coloured beeswax and crayons, wax polish and a polishing cloth for repairing small splits and cracks.

To use the beeswax sticks, choose the colour that best matches the timber and hold it in your hand or in your pocket for about 10 minutes to warm it up. In the meantime, clean the crack but be careful not to further damage the surface.

Further soften a small amount of the beeswax (roughly the amount you will need for the repair) between your fingers to make it pliable. Then push the wax into the crack, slightly overfilling it. The beeswax will bond to the timber. Use a flexible plastic applicator to scrape off excess wax as neatly as possible so the surface of the repair is flush with the surrounding timber. Use beeswax paste to rub the excess wax off the surrounding timber so that the patina of the furniture and the repair match. Then wax the whole piece. In time, the surface of the beeswax will harden while remaining pliable underneath to take the expansion and contraction of the timber. Badly split furniture will need to be repaired using cabinet-making methods.

Light-coloured furniture
If you have light-coloured, unstained furniture such as Tassie oak, ash or even beech, you do not need to use the pens to hide the blemishes. Just rub a little white shellac, furniture oil or polish into the scratch to disguise it. This will work especially well on furniture that has been finished with shellac, because when shellac is scratched it turns into powder, which is dissolved and then disappears in the fresh shellac. When finished, apply good furniture wax to the piece to protect the surface.

Stockists:
Rescue Box (about $90), including Scratch Fix pens (about $9-10 each) Acecroft, 1800 815 636 or http://www.acecroft.com.au/
Scratch Fix pens. Auburn Antiques, (03) 9882 6704 or http://www.auburnantiques.com/