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I put a good ding in the top of my newest guitar last night. Somewhere on here a while back I remember someone saying (maybe Waddy?)that they can steam out a ding even when the guitar has finish on it. Hard to believe but, if it is true I want to know how. This is a french polish finish. Not cut, just a dimple dent. dropped the tv remote and it bounced off the guitar.

This thread may be worth a look:
http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=46928&hilit=steam+dent+finish

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Steam will melt shellac, leaving a rough patch. But the dent should come out just fine. At least the one I made a few weeks ago did. My finish rework procedure was:

Wipe on two coats of shellac
Scrape smooth
Wipe on two coats of shellac
Micromesh brown, green, black
Wipe one one final coat

Replacing the final step with French polishing would probably work as well, and get a smoother finish. I'm just really bad at it, so I've been using the wipe-on approach lately.

To steam out a small dent in a finished surface I use a wet rag and a woodburning tool with a flat blade that I bent to lay flat against the rag. The small contact area provided by the blade limited the area of the finish being steamed to just the dented area. I rewet the rag and steam as necessary. I worked as a furniture repair tech for a couple of years and steaming dents was a common occurrence.
With shellac (french polish) the steam my make the finish go white (at least on the surface) but a light sanding and repolishing with shellac should make the spot disappear.

Just steamed out a dent in a top I am french polishing. Worked fine but had to sand the wound area and basically repolish from there. Set me back a day or two.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks Jay, that was probably the discussion I remembered. And thanks Dennis, Clay & Steve. Guess I just needed reassurance before diving in. Will just go ahead and deal with it next weekend. Sounds straight forward enough. Wendy