Have to fix a dent in my instrument- other ideas

[Oka]

I thought I would give my hand a try at making a ukulele. Got the body done and needed to sand the back out. A cabinet maker friend has a digital sander. So, I thought I would use it to help with speeding up some of the work.
I left the instrument there last week over the weekend. Anyway, someone dropped it or banged it. Now it has a ding/chip.
I am planning on making a repair with some of the wood (Mango) and glue it in with hide glue. The highlighted pencil area is where it looks like the grain is a close match.

If any of you have another suggestion I am open to hearing it.

 

[Mike Davis]

Have you tried steaming the dent first to see if it will rise out?

 

[Mike Davis]

Dang! That’s nice work, sorry it got hurt.

 

[Robert LaPlaca]

Casey, wow that really sucks the instrument got damaged.

Other than the patch that you referenced, the only other solution I use for small worm holes in Mahogany are shellac burn in sticks, not so sure it would work for an instrument though.

 

[ssmith]

Wow, sorry to see it damaged - looks like a really nice job.

+1 on steaming, though it looks like it's broken thru the material so it may be too deep.

Plan B - Perhaps steam it to soften the wood, then reach in thru the sound hole and press the damaged section out? That may minimize the size of the repair you need to do.

 

[chris_goris]

Casey, can you push it back out from the inside? maybe using an exacto knife trim the damaged edges of the dent and pull it back out. Possibly then you can mix up some hide glue / sawdust and fill around it. I think that would be less noticeable than a seperate patch glued in. just a thought

 

[Oka]

Wow thanks guys. I will try steaming 1st, the type of wood doesn't react consistently.- Thanks Mike, Scott
Chris- that might work, that is on the table to do.
Robert - thanks, Shellac sticking is an option, the concern is the light color of the wood.
Well...... thanks all, I have my work cut out for me, I'll post the fix and let you know how it turns out.

Right now - I got to get ready to go to the hospital, having a minor back surgery this morning .... .........gotta love getting older.........

 

[Craptastic]

Ouch. That's a bit more than just a dent. Not sure steaming will help on that, but when I worked in the door factory years ago we would use a heat gun (on low) sometimes on veneers that had a slight almost punch through dent (kinda like yours) and then apply water on the affected piece in the middle and apply lots of pressure with blocking over the spot. Granted we were fixing flat pieces of veneer and not something already formed into a musical instrument, but it usually resulted in only a need for a light sanding on a repaired piece of veneer. Not sure the process can be applied here with it already being formed and it being a musical instrument, but thought I'd put it out there.

 

[awldune]

I wonder if you could patch it in such a way that would be a decorative feature? A dark veneer?

 

[Rwe2156]

What a shame!! That one's too deep to steam out. Insert a probe through the hole and see if you can push it enough to try steaming.

A lot of luthiers repair holes by drilling out the defect and plugging with either synthetic material or contrasting wood.