Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Ironing dents

I read a post a while back on ironing dents out of wooden stocks with a hot iron and a wet towel. Does this work? I have tiny nicks in a wooden stock I would like to take out. Would this work on a gloss finished stock? Thanks!

A dent occurs when there is a depression in the finish and wood that doesn't tear or crack the finish.....ironing over a wet towel normally will "raise" the wood and finish.

A chip or nick typically will "break" the finish and/or tear the wood. Ironing can help this but it won't put the finish back together.

SlowHand
It will work fine if there is a break in the finish to allow the water/steam to get at the wood to swell it. If the finish is intact a tiny hole drilled just through the finish will allow water to get at the squashed wood.

I usually use a drop of water and a heat gun on a depression so I can monitor progress better, but the iron will actually work better. I have taken some huge dings back up to flush with no trace left. There are a lot of different finishes that will do a good job of filling the tiny drilled holes back in. I usually use a thick blend of shellac mixed to get the right color and padded on like a french polish.

For what you are looking at doing you might not need the filler. After the repairs are done go over the whole stock with a polish (I use rottenstone in oil on a felt pad usually) and then wax. It will often be impossible to find these repairs.
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