How to Repair Broken Corners and Edges on Furniture

RON HAZELTON:

This armoire is kind of special to me.  It came out of the Intercontinental Hotel in New York City while they were having a liquidation sale.  Now I like the way that it looks but it also has some really nice features.

My wife and I do a lot of TV watching from bed and this has got a great pull-out and swivel at just the right height.  And down here, a real hotel bonus feature, a built-in refrigerator.  But because this was a liquidation sale, I had to carry this out myself and in the process I broke off the corner right here. 

It’s the only thing about this armoire that’s kind of bugged me, so I’m going to fix it right now.  Now this armoire is in two sections.  I’ve slid the top in this direction so that it’s overhanging.  That will allow me to work on it more easily.  Now what’s going to allow me to make this repair right here in the bedroom is this material.  It’s actually called Polyester Resin.

You can think of it as a putty with a hardener.  I’m going to be putting it on this area here, letting it harden and then shape it.  But in order to keep this from spilling off onto the floor, I’ve taken a scrap piece of wood and I’m going to attach this right under here.

I spray some WD40 on the board to act as a release agent and keep the putty from sticking to the wood.  Then clamp the board in place.  I remove a golf ball sized scoop of putty and place it on a scrap piece of acrylic plastic for mixing.

This hardener comes with the putty and acts as a catalyst, starting a chemical reaction that will turn the material from really gooey into rock hard.  The more hardener I put in, the faster the putty will set up.  The amount I added today will give me about five minutes of work time.

What I’m trying to do here is fill up the void left by the broken away wood.  I don’t worry about being overly neat.  The idea is just to get the material in place while it’s soft. 

Now as this material dries, there’s a window, maybe five or ten minutes when it’s firm but pliable, easily shaped.  And that’s where I am right now.  So I’m going to begin removing the excess material. 
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I removed most of the extra putty by simply cutting it away with a utility knife.  In a few more minutes, the material will be way too hard to do this.

The putty is now firm enough that I can remove the board and begin shaping.  Files and rasps work well for this.  The tool I’m using though is called a micro plane.  I like it because the stainless steel cutting teeth are very sharp and non-clogging.

It if reminds you of a cheese grater, that’s because the manufacturer also makes kitchen utensils using the very same technology. 

With most of the shaping done, I’m ready to start smoothing the surface.  Sandpaper wrapped around dowels works really well for this.

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I use larger dowels for bigger curves and smaller dowels for tighter ones.
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Well the missing material has been replaced.  Now the challenge is going to be to restore the color and finish.  This filler that I put in here won’t accept wood stain so that’s not an option.

Instead I’m going to be using artist’s acrylic colors.  For this project, the colors I’ll use most will be the earth tones, sienna and umber along with red.  I dip my brush in water and mix two or more of the colors together until I’ve got a shade that looks close.

Then I apply it to the surface.  If the color is off, I just let it dry a few minutes and try again by painting a different color on top. 
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Okay, I’ve replaced the missing material, gotten the color to match.  Now I need to put a top coat on so that the sheen or shine will also match.  And for that, I’ll sue spray lacquer. 

I keep the spray can about a foot or so from the surface moving in even strokes.  And take my finger off the nozzle at the end of each pass.  Several light coats works best.
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Well there you go, you’d never know that little mishap took place and my piece of hotel history, well it’s never looked better.