How to Repair a Gouge on the Edge of a Table

You know damage like this can happen to any piece of furniture, new or old.  Here’s an easy way to fix it.  Now this is the first of two materials we’ll need to make this repair.  This is auto body filler; this is a two-part material. This is the catalyst, this is red and the resin is gray.  When it is thoroughly mixed, it’ll be a uniform pink.  Now, to keep this from spilling out of the damaged area, we are going to take some tape and put it right along the edge of the table, like this.  This’ll keep it from spilling out this way and then, we’ll take our filler and force it down into that cavity right there.  Now, i’ve waited about 3 or 4 minutes until this filler is just in a rubbery state. 

Now, we are going to take off this tape, first of all, and then this is very important, while this is still in the rubbery state, i am going to take a knife and cut off the excess.  Now in a few more minutes, this is going to get so hard the only way to shape it would be with a file.   Okay, now we are going to let this dry a little bit longer.  Then we’ll come back and do some sanding on it.  I don’t want to go off on this surrounding table any more than i have to.  Okay, now that’s perfectly flat and perfectly smooth.  Now the second material that you’ll need to do this project are artist acrylic colors.  Because we are going to end up blending these to match the color of the wood.  The nice thing about the acrylic is you can keep going on top of them until we get the right color.  The real trick here is to be patient when you’re mixing your colors.  If you don’t get it right the first time, just try it again.