Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Repair table edge worn to raw wood

Dear George,

We have a pine table which we stained dark oak with Wood-kote gel and finished with Minwax water-based polyurethane.

In moving it one of the top edges got scratched and a line of the wood's light color is showing. Do you have any advice on how fix just that area? Or do we need to start all over again?


Thanks for all the info you provide here. I've learned alot.

Kendall

Kendall:

Thanks for the kind words.

Years ago, when I worked for retail furniture store, my job was to follow the delivery trucks around and fix what they screwed up in delivery - edges (running into door jambs, running into walls) were a big part of that.

Some home centers carry 'edgers' - they look like (and act like) magic markers - except they're available in a wide range of wood tone colors. This is what I would use.

If you can't find them, Minwax markets a line of crayons, also in wood tone colors, called 'Blendfil' pencils. They would be a second choice.

If all else fails, liquid shoe polish may well do the trick.

If you can't find anything suitable in the above, artist acrylics can be blended to any color in the rainbow (or the forest). I normally use oil colors, but you'll need to touch up the edge with finish after the color dries. Water base finishes are sometimes funny going over oil of any kind, hence the suggestion to use arcylics.

Regardless, you'll need to touch up the edge with a fine brush and the same water base poly you used before.