Steaming out a dent in wood

[Alan Weinberg]

I should have taken before and after pictures but I didn’t. I turned a small hollow form and must have bumped it against something because it had two linear dents about 1 cm long, too deep to sand without leaving a depression. So I googled and read about steaming out a wood dent. The articles used an iron on flooring. Instead, I dampened a small piece of t-shirt in water and applied my heat gun. Did it a couple times. T-shirt and wood got pretty hot. As the wood dried, the dents virtually disappeared. A little sanding now and all will be fine.

 

[Michael Anderson]

Like magic, right? I had to do that on the recent Huon Pine calabash I made. No idea where the dent came from, but steamed right out. Whew.

 

[John K Jordan]

I’ve done that several times over the years, not just on wood turning but other things, first heard of it, ah, can’t remember!, but I used my mother’s clothes iron the first time.

More recently, I found that one of my larger soldering iron tips with flat sides and no point was perfect to localize the steam in a small areas. I too used a small piece of cotton t-shirt material, re-dampening and steamed until the dent was gone, Like Michael said, “Magic!”

I think the last time I did this was with cherry, maybe 10 years ago.

Hey Alan, you could dent it again to get some before and after pictures!! 😁

JKJ

 

[Rick Moreton]

If a piece is small enough, I wait for the next time I make my wife a latte and use the steam wand on it. I can hold the piece with both hands since the wand stays in place.

 

[hockenbery]

I use a wet cloth and an iron for clothes.

 

[hughie]

I have used it often, saved my bacon many times

 

[Doug Freeman]

Been doing it for a couple of decades. Found an old small folding handle travel clothes iron at a garage sale that I keep in the shop for this.