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Terry Campbell writes:

Hello Groop,

One of the more challenging damages that I see
in my travels are crushed corners.
This particular piece is a dresser that was being moved
into a bedroom and the right front corner was crushed
when it came into contact with the door frame.
The wood is maple with a honey maple lacquer finish applied.





The first thing that I did was to shave off any wood
that had bulged out from the crush using a razor knife.
I used a small phillips head screwdriver
to place "anchor" holes into the crushed area.



I then apply "Bondo" to the area, using an index card as a dam.
After the bondo dries, I shave off most of the excess
with a razor knife -- then sand smooth
(starting with 80 grit then 50 grit and finally 220 grit)
making sure to follow the contour of the edge.



There are a few pin holes left in the cured bondo.
I just reapply some more and sand again
until I was happy with the results (squareness and
being level with the contour of the rest of the edge).



I mix up Blendal powders with Star's Spot Pro (a French Padding Liquid)
just a little bit darker than the original color. I allow this to dry
for about 5 minutes -- then I sand lightly with 320 stearated paper
paying particular attention to the color that I applied that
overlaps the original finish on the edge (feathering in the color).



I then mix up some more powders a little bit lighter than
the first time and sand with 320 again.



Then I mix up a lighter batch for a third pass and sand with 320 again.



I once again check for squareness and contour.
I then apply my "distressing" that was used originally
on this piece by the manufacturer.
The color used by the manufacturer was a very light opaque brown.
I simulated this by using a spray can of Star's VanDyke Brown
shot from a distance of about 4 feet away.

I let this dry and sanded again with 320. The layers of color
that I had applied were just slightly darker than the original color.
I sprayed on a couple of mist coats of Star's Amber Tone Up to
blend the colors together. I let it dry again and sanded with 320.



I finished up by top coating with Star's High Build Satin Lacquer.
I let this dry and rubbed the repair out with 0000 steel wool.

In closing, I will add this -- I was the THIRD service to go out to
this job. The first service did an inspection and recommended
a total cash out to the shipper of $1200 because this piece
could not be repaired. The second service quoted a price of
fabricating a new top to the tune of $900.

Who says we don't need some sort of "certification"?

Time spent on repair -- 53 minutes.
Invoice charge -- $225.00

Terry Campbell
The Road Restorer
Casper, WY



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