Fixing chips in wood

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You will need the following:

1. Steel wool pad
2. Clear lacquer: dead flat flat satin or gloss. Depends on what sheen you have. Get a good quality lacquer.
If you are working with opaque furniture (painted) you will use a water clear lacquer(local hardware or paint store).
3. Sandpaper: 320-1000 grit (paint store or automotive paint supply)
4. Liquid wax for wood furniture.
5. Automotive polishing compound. (used for cherry finishes)(Automotive stores).
6. Assorted colors of fill sticks. Looks like a big crayon. (Mainly used for the sides and edges of furniture)
7. Epoxy stick (my favorite is quick-wood) (mainly used for deep chips and tops of furniture)
8. Assorted colors of wood markers. Even eye liner pencils will work.
9. A wood block. (to wrap the sandpaper around to get a flat edge).
10. Masking tape.
11. A soft cotton cloth (not a paper towel)


First thing you need to do is clean out the area with a very small piece of 320 grit sandpaper

If you find the missing piece then thats great you can just glue it back on with wood glue

If you need to connect the grain lines use a darker wood marker or even a dark brown eye liner pencil.

If you cannot find the chip then that is ok we will just fill it in with a fill stick

Just rub the fill stick into the defected area until it is level with the surrounding area, then take your block of wood and wrap the cloth around it and this will give you a straight edge. Make sure you have no wrinkles in the cloth or you will dig into the fill stick and you will have to re-apply again. Just rub the cloth on the area you are working on until it is level with the surrounding wood. Just go very easy and you can do it right the first time. Then all you have to do is color the repaired area with a wood marker and connect the grain lines. Mask off the area you repaired and apply clear lacquer that matches the sheen you are working on. Let it dry, take off the masking tape, apply the liquid wax to the 000 steel wool and rub very gently (with the grain) to level the repaired area to the surrounding surface.

If your chip is large ,bigger than ¼ inch wide, it is better to fix it with an epoxy stick. These sticks come in different colors so you can match you project pretty close. Just cut off what you need and knead it in your hands till it becomes a uniform color. Apply to the damaged area. Wet fingers with tap water and rub into putty surface until you completely cover the chip. You can use a straight edge to take off the excess. It's always better to leave a little hump than to leave an indentation. Then just let it dry.