Any advice on how to fix a blemish?

Hello All,
I have a pair of dark cheery Vantages that my Nephew accidentally dropped his little toy car on one of the back corners while playing behind the speaker. I was not there, family in town. At the 90 degree angle the laminate/veneer peeled a little bit. Cannot notice it unless holding a light next to it. You can feel it when you rub your finger over the corner and edge though. I suppose my question is it fixable or even worth the effort. Love them so much and were pristine prior. Even gave up smoking period for them and myself.
Any Advice would be greatly appreciated,
Happy Holidays,
Mark

Mark Linkous said:

Hello All,
I have a pair of dark cheery Vantages that my Nephew accidentally dropped his little toy car on one of the back corners while playing behind the speaker. I was not there, family in town. At the 90 degree angle the laminate/veneer peeled a little bit. Cannot notice it unless holding a light next to it. You can feel it when you rub your finger over the corner and edge though. I suppose my question is it fixable or even worth the effort. Love them so much and were pristine prior. Even gave up smoking period for them and myself.
Any Advice would be greatly appreciated,
Happy Holidays,
Mark

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Hola...in a hardware store you can find pilots in different colors to match your scratch...perhaps this might help to cover the scratch. Sorry for your problem, happy listening,
Roberto.

Hola Roberto,
Thank you for your quick reply. I am not familiar with what a pilot is. Will check that out.
Thanks,
Mark

If you want you can also fill the dent or chip with some wood putty let it dry and then try to match the stain.

I would advise against the "pilot" if it is a marker of any kind. The carrier for the dye may be an aromatic and cause more damage at the interface of the extant veneer.
Find a woodworking or veneer supplier or a GOOD hardware store and get the wax pencils meant for furniture touch-ups. For the truly desperate, contact either an antique dealer or a GOOD moving company for a reference to a furniture restorer/repairer. They can come to you, but they ain't cheap!

Beakman said:

I would advise against the "pilot" if it is a marker of any kind. The carrier for the dye may be an aromatic and cause more damage at the interface of the extant veneer.
Find a woodworking or veneer supplier or a GOOD hardware store and get the wax pencils meant for furniture touch-ups. For the truly desperate, contact either an antique dealer or a GOOD moving company for a reference to a furniture restorer/repairer. They can come to you, but they ain't cheap!

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Agreed 100% here...best advise!...happy listening,
Roberto.

Beakman said:

I would advise against the "pilot" if it is a marker of any kind. The carrier for the dye may be an aromatic and cause more damage at the interface of the extant veneer.
Find a woodworking or veneer supplier or a GOOD hardware store and get the wax pencils meant for furniture touch-ups. For the truly desperate, contact either an antique dealer or a GOOD moving company for a reference to a furniture restorer/repairer. They can come to you, but they ain't cheap!

Click to expand...

Hello,
Done. If it bothers me too much, I will call a restorer. I cannot even see it without holding a flashlight or lighter. Or if the recessed lights all all on. Even then, really have to look. Tiny amount of peeling on two edges. I did run out and buy a marker, but, touched a tiny part and did not like it. Wiped it off. Tiny speck of marker/dye at that.
Thank You All,
Mark

You can't see it and it doesn't affect the sound. Leave it alone. As someone who woodworks as a hobby I can pretty well state that a good restorer would be able to fix your blemish but to what end? Use the money to buy some music, live or recorded. My $.02.

Congrats on quitting smoking. One of the more difficult drugs to give up.

I had something similar happen to my Summits on the bottom corner. I carefully squeezed in a little woodglue under the small piece of veneer that had lifted on the corner. I wiped off the excess with a damp cloth and let it dry with a heavy book resting on it.

After the glue dried the corner was perfectly stable. No lifting of the veneer was apparent, but I was left with a tiny patch of discoloration about 1/8the the size of a fingernail. Very annoying on such expensive speakers.

So I returned to the hardware store and purchased 3 different tins of wood dye and a tin of satin varnish. I carefully mixed the different dyes until I had a perfect match with the dark cherry veneer. This was then mixed in with a small amount of satin varnish. The resulting mixture was applied with a very fine artists brush.

I obtained a perfect result - Even under a magnifying glass. I now can't tell which speaker was damaged! How's that?

I know my method was fiddly. But it was worth it. I think you'll find craftsmen might use a similar method...

Good luck.

Hello All,
Everyone, thank you so much for the suggestions. Truly appreciate it. Gosh, quitting smoking was brutal. If I had any woodworking ability I would try Edwinr's approach. I think I am just going to let it go. Hard given they are pretty expensive. Not Summit expensive, but still. Again, if my Brother had not told me it happened, I would not have noticed it for some time. Just two places where when you run your finger it is not smooth. If it drives me crazy, which it might, could send them to ML and have them replace the damage. I know that would not be cheap. I think if then, I might send them both in and get a custom finish and make the best out of it.
Happy Holidays,
Mark

Mark, if you don't feel confident doing it yourself, a french polisher will do that repair for you at little cost. I suggest you leave it alone and get an expert. After all you have a big financial investment here. Just think, if you had a nice car, you would get any minor blemish fixed properly too...

Amatuer woodworker here who's done both traditional
hammer-veneering with hide glue and modern vacuum-
veneering with modern glues...

Send it back to ML if it's under warranty. Otherwise, use
a well-recommended local antique restorer.

As a new Summit owner, I find these reports very troubling.
Everyone who has seen this issue should report to ML so
they can re-examine their production process. They may
be using a poor glue/substrate combo.

A properly applied veneer NEVER lifts or peels except under
the most extreme conditions like water damage or very
high heat. Serious phyiscal abuse from a hammer causes
a real wood veneer to break and splinter before it would
peel. A dropped toy car would scratch or slightly ding the
finish (which could be repaired by an expert), but a light
bump should never loosen the veneer at the edges or
corners.

Mark,

Where in Fl. are you. I am in Tampa area. My back ground is furniture making.
If you are close I would be willing to take a look and give my opinion.

Hello,
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Brad, I live in Sarasota.
Cheers,
Mark

While on the subject of blemishes, how do you remove candle wax from fine furniture? I had some drop onto a rosewood table.

Bernard said:

While on the subject of blemishes, how do you remove candle wax from fine furniture? I had some drop onto a rosewood table.

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plastic putty knife.

Bernard said:

While on the subject of blemishes, how do you remove candle wax from fine furniture? I had some drop onto a rosewood table.

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I assume you've already removed the wax blob by carefully
picking, scraping, and wiping so that only a waxy residue
remains.

If the piece is Antiques-Roadshow-OhMyGodIHadNoIdea
valuable (and anything old and rosewood could be so),
then you should let a professional restorer handle the job.
It's not worth the risk removing $5K of value from a $50K
piece of furniture.

Otherwise, plain old furniture polish (Endust, Formby’s, or
Pledge) and some elbow grease should do the trick. Furniture
polish contains petroleum distillates (either mineral oil or
kerosene) which are wax solvents.

If that doesn't work, then stepping up to naphtha or mineral
spirits will do the trick and should be safe for most finishes.

WARNING: always test any solvent/cleaner on a hidden
area first.

Modern mass-produced furniture is not likely to have a
hand-rubbed shellac finish (ie - french polish). Instead,
these usually have a sprayed fast-drying laquer or varnish.
On the other hand, antiques or one-off modern pieces that
are hand-made by master craftsman may have a shellac
finish.

Alcohol dissolves shellac faster than ice cream on a hot
summer sidewalk, so never use alcohol to clean a shellac
finish. Shellac is normally not used anywhere wine or
booze is likely to be present (table tops, coffee table, and
bars), but it has been known to happen.