Dealing with deep scratches in wood

[rafezetter]

I've been asked to finish a (what I think is mahogany) dining table top that someone in the past has already removed the finish (or maybe it never had one) - it's old and has the usual hairline scratches, dinks etc; I'm not concerned about those too much, but it also has some fairly deep ones too.

I know I'll have to card scrape the top, but if possible I'd rather not spend hours and hours scraping the whole top until the worst of the scratches are gone as it's a 10 place table, not small.

I've steamed out as much as I can, but they are still fairly nasty and wetting them makes them stick out horribly. Now as always the customer wants it done "as cheap as possible" are there any cheats that I could employ to help reduce the looks of them?

I was wondering if they might fade a bit once I've added some dye to even out the colours of the different planks, or would the "end grain" of the deep scratches just make them stand out even more?

Or should I simply hit it with 120 grit sandpaper and try to sand out the scratches and blend in the areas where more wood has been removed?

 

[NickWelford]

Liberon wax touch up sticks?

 

[Jacob]

All or nothing; either just clean it up (soap and water) and wax polish, or belt-sand down to clean wood.
The first is the cheapest possible and the second is risky - who knows what's lurking under the surface. It's an old table anyway - it will never look new again.
Your painstaking cosmetic approach sounds impossible and very time consuming.

 

[Eric The Viking]

You've already steamed it. You won't get more back than you have.

Combine Nick's and Jacob's suggestions: matching filler wax then a good quick finish wax, preferably dark (personally, I like the original, solvent-based Liberon. I think there is/was a dark version).

If you scrape it, you'll still make hollows, so don't overdo it.

E.

 

[blackrodd]

When you say you've "steamed it" I presume you mean you have used an electric smoothing iron and a damp cloth
over the offending scratches?
I've done this with some success in the past, I thought the steam iron direct on the wood that a friend tried was rather aggressive myself. Regards Rodders

 

[rafezetter]

Blackrodd yes I do mean electric iron and damp cloth, after pre-wetting with a finger dipped in water.

Thanks for the replies, but maybe I've not made myself fully clear - the top has no finish on it at all, it's bare wood; and going by the state of it, it looks like it may never have had one or at least not in the recent past as it's gone grey and has various places with black spots where, what I can only assume is mildew, form on it. (Those I'm going to use oxalic acid on)

Jacob I've already told them that I can only make it "like new" for a significant amount of effort, and although I could do it, removing all the smaller dinks and scratches removes all the age from the top, in which case why buy a "reclaimed" table in the first place?