Lacquer Finish Repair on Wood Furniture | How To

How do you repair a lacquer finish? We show you how to do a spot repair instead of taking the old finish off and refinishing the piece. The process we use is to:
- 1:14 smooth the edges of the damaged area with lacquer thinner with a brush and rag - 2:48 sand down the surface with fine steel wool
- 5:27 apply a new coat of finish with spray lacquer
- 5:39 spot spray the lacquer to build up low areas
- 6:20 level out the finish with a blade
- 7:28 sand the surface again
- 7:37 wipe everything down with a tack cloth
- 8:00 spray the final coat of lacquer on the whole piece

This is an efficient way to do a repair, but it's not perfect. If you're looking for the perfect finish, it is best to remove the old finish and start again. For this project, the customer wanted to move ahead with a spot repair instead of investing in a full refinish for the piece. The total time I invested in this repair was about 90 minutes.

The great thing about lacquer is that it dries very quickly. The down side is that lacquer is a toxic mix of chemicals that require a well ventilated area to work in and you need to wear a respirator.

#lacquer #repair

[timothyhelton]

Thank you. A glow stick leaked on our new table, definitely gonna give this a shot. Anyone reading this who likes wood...stay away from glow sticks. I never knew.

[shannonphx]

Your voice is lovely. You may be the Bob Ross of furniture repair. Thank you for the soothing lesson.

[jimbennett]

Thank you for the videos and sharing your techniques and knowledge for repairing furniture. There are countless videos on stripping and refinishing furniture, but very few quality and detailed videos, such as yours, on how to touch up finishes. I am a furniture repairman and I appreciate learning various ways others approach furniture repairs. Flattening the finish touch up, by scraping with a utility knife blade is a great example of that. Even though I've done this work for many years, I'm often able to learn by observing others, even if its just a small detail. Real world repairs, performed for a real customer, in order to actually earn a living is a great benifit for me. Watching you soften and manipulate the lacquer around the damaged area is of great benifit to understanding lacquer in general. And, even though the repaired area was still visible, it was a significant improvement. And, in my experience, there are customers who absolutely do NOT want their piece stripped and refinished. Thank you for all your many videos.

[houseofnambili]

Thank you! Your teaching style is A+! As someone new to repairs, I really appreciate you taking time to explain how the damage was done and why you've made the repair decision you've made. I have a dining table that has lots of dents and scratches from moving and was worried it'd have to been a very expensive repair. As soon as I figure out which finish it has, I'll be on my way! Thanks again!

[bigonbikes]

This is such a good stuff man. It seems like all of the old furniture I see that's been refinished has just been slopped over with polyurethane no matter what the original finish was. Literally makes my stomach hurt to walk through the Antique Mall. Thanks for putting this out there, giving the average Joe Liquor better access to finishing devilry will benefit all of us in the long run.

[philgray]

We have an identical spot of damage on our Victorian table. I don't want to lose the patina of the table, so this looks like the best possible way of dealing with it. Thank you for doing this video.

[mariushegli]

I have nothing to say really, but I appreciate your content, and wish to help with the yt-algorithms.

[tedlym.]

Please have a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Thank you,

[BpGregor]

Thank you for your videos. I find them most informative and gives me the desire to want to do some furniture repairing myself. One thing which I found brought back some memories of my maternal grandmother. I had scratched some piece of furniture - I was in my teen years - and I was upset that the scratch would be noticed by my grandfather, who wouldn't be very happy about it. My grandmother got out the iodine and a Q-tip and the scratch disappeared! Thanks again for the video and the great memory!

[interiot]

Wow, this was an incredibly informative video. Chock full of wisdom, or as Axios describes its writing style, "short but not shallow".

[witatter]

Great video. I have an end table that has finish issues similar to what you show. I’ve been putting off stripping and refinishing as the rest of the piece looks good. I’ll try this method and see how well it works.,

[dansimeone]

New subscriber. Love your approach to specific steps, topics and repair types. No drama. This one is a great in that lacquer repairs, to me were always beyond my reach. Now they're not. Looking forward to viewing the remainder of your library. I've only watched a dozen or so. Keep them coming, please!

[diamond]

AWESOME VIDEO, Thank you! You are amazing.

[lovetrump]

Great stuff, very detailed explanations so viewers can understand why they should be doing what!

Myself, I am trying to make a similar repair, but am not sure what product was used on the table top: Is there any way to tell if the finish is lacquer or Polyurethane based product?

Any one with suggestions please speak up.

[marilynweiss]

Good video - what is the attachment you are using on the spray can of lacquer. I can't find anything that looks like that at my hardware stores?

[eyecandy-gaming]

I would have just made a new top. For all the time it took to redo the touchups It would have cost the customer more to repair it than its worth. That is if your not also making a video that can earn some future income from the project. I am glad YouTube recommended your channel. Your great at explaining every step. Thanks

[williambosco]

I would have feathered out the damage with 320 wet and dry sandpaper and sprayed one or two coats of heavy body sanding sealer. Then spray a toner in a cup and hand brush the color in, (if needed) and then put a top coat on. Been an in-home service man for 40 years and this is what I would have done in the customer's home. Sometimes blender flo out may also did the job.

[brianrobertson]

Respirator and gloves is good advice. Liver failure us no picnic.

[strongjohn]

I'm a big fan and have learned a lot from your channel. Your result is a big improvement, but the location of the damaged finish is still easily discernable. To be honest, it seems to me that refinishing the entire surface of this piece would not have been all that much additional work or used all that much more material. While that you are working on a veneered surface would have necessitated additional care, I think a more completely restored result would have warranted a complete refinishing.

[andysutton]

A great video. Thank you for shareing.