Shaft Dings

J$Cincy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Can anyone explain the best way to remove small dings in a shaft. Any input would be helpful. Thanks Jim
 
A trick from a road player ;-)

You will need a damp terry cloth hand towel.
Place the towel on the shaft and make sure the dent is on the top.
Take a iron and use the heat to swell the dent out with the hot steam (from the damp towel).
Buff the shaft with a bar glass or glass rod "cue doctor"

It is fun to do at parties! A little magic trick with no sandpaper.....

Enjoy the magic. Bugs
 
A little steamer or tea kettle works fine, apply a little at a time. I have seen a lot of people try that glass rod, everyone I've seen so far has taken the shaft out of round.
 
Michael Webb said:
A little steamer or tea kettle works fine, apply a little at a time. I have seen a lot of people try that glass rod, everyone I've seen so far has taken the shaft out of round.



Tap Tap, seems to me It just compresses the wood around the dents. The steamer does work good on most dents with enough patience. Some of the nicks on the other hand force you to be alittle more creative unfortunatly.
 
Michael Webb said:
A little steamer or tea kettle works fine, apply a little at a time. I have seen a lot of people try that glass rod, everyone I've seen so far has taken the shaft out of round.

I have read one thought that in addition to the glass rod method just spreading out the ding to where it is less noticeable when running the shaft through the fingers, it weakens the fibers more so than a steam method, and doing this repeatedly over time causes the shaft to become a glass rod addict.

I guess it works for some, some people advocate it.

I am not a repairman so take it for what it is worth, but for my personal shafts or when taking dings out of a friends I have used a moist Qtip (the kind you put in your ear). Place it on the ding and apply an iron to the qtip in short durations. It seems to me burnishing the shaft afterwards is a good thing to do.

Kelly
 
another idea

I have had some succuss with small tight dents by first very lightly sanding the shiny glaze from the dented area so the wood accepts the moisture evenly. I use maybe 320 grit and only sand the dent. Then a qtip, or a medical syringe can put a drop of moisture on it, wait then remoisten. Then heat the end of an old dull tool, like a screwdriver with a propane torch, lightly touch the spot that is moist and you will hear the moisture sizzle and see the dent quickly raise. I have never scorched wood, if the repair does not raise it enough, I remoisten and start over, never touch dry wood with the hot tool! you can finish it off with a little steam, then reburnish with a leather. The problem with steaming is that too many wood fibres are raised, these should be left alone as they were not dented, do not fix what ain't broke!
 
I've never used heat. All I do is like above without the heat. Open the
grain with fine sandpaper I use 400 grit. 320 is probably fine but I hate sanding on my shafts. 400 will just take a little longer. Only sand the dent then wet just the dent several times. Then I'll burnish the area first with plain white paper like a business card or 3x5 note card then I'll check to see if it's gone. If not repeat the sand/wetting. If it is gone I've got a piece of an old wide leather belt from the 70's I use for the final burnishing.
 
Cue Crazy said:
Tap Tap, seems to me It just compresses the wood around the dents. The steamer does work good on most dents with enough patience. Some of the nicks on the other hand force you to be alittle more creative unfortunatly.

The quickest way to lift a dent, if you have a lathe, is to spin the shaft at around 2000 to 2500 rpm, very litely hit with sand paper to remove oils, then slip a thick piece of leather over the shaft and move up and down over the dent causing it to warm up, then spray on some amonia or windex and run the leather over it again. I usually do this twice or more if the dent is bad and doesn't raise.

The reason for this is that amonia is thinner than water so it soaks in quicker and also boils at a lower temperature. The leather on the spinning shaft creates friction and the amonia to turn to a vapor and pushes the dent up. I can remove most dents in 10 to 20 seconds.

One time years ago, I had made a shaft at my home and was taking it to the shop for a finish. I had an old Supra and the shaft was on the back seat. I noticed the door not completely closed so I opened it and slammed it shut. When I opened the door the shaft slid out the door so that when I slammed it the shaft about 5 or 6 inches from the joint was squeezed nearly half in two. It looked like an hour glass. Sherm and myself put it on a lathe and with the afore mentioned technique got the dent out of the shaft so that you couldn't tell it had ever happened.

Dick
 
rhncue said:
The quickest way to lift a dent, if you have a lathe, is to spin the shaft at around 2000 to 2500 rpm, very litely hit with sand paper to remove oils, then slip a thick piece of leather over the shaft and move up and down over the dent causing it to warm up, then spray on some amonia or windex and run the leather over it again. I usually do this twice or more if the dent is bad and doesn't raise.

The reason for this is that amonia is thinner than water so it soaks in quicker and also boils at a lower temperature. The leather on the spinning shaft creates friction and the amonia to turn to a vapor and pushes the dent up. I can remove most dents in 10 to 20 seconds.

One time years ago, I had made a shaft at my home and was taking it to the shop for a finish. I had an old Supra and the shaft was on the back seat. I noticed the door not completely closed so I opened it and slammed it shut. When I opened the door the shaft slid out the door so that when I slammed it the shaft about 5 or 6 inches from the joint was squeezed nearly half in two. It looked like an hour glass. Sherm and myself put it on a lathe and with the afore mentioned technique got the dent out of the shaft so that you couldn't tell it had ever happened.

Dick


That's a good trick also. I use to do something like that, before getting the steamer, It's possible that it may even be quicker like you mentioned, but been a while since I used it. I still have a spray bottle of It hanging off My overhead racks that I rarely use anymore. I have several types of thick leather I have used. I have used pig leather in the past, but have a box full of others also.

I have had some good dents like you mentioned before, they almost look Like half the diameter is dented. I got them out with the steamer and alittle effort, but must admitt they did'nt come up that quickly or easily. I have got some in that had deep rings all the way around the shaft also, those are always a joy to pull as well.:rolleyes: :p

One of My buddies had a Supra that he fixed up nice. It was a quick little car, and I always wanted one, but was'nt practical for My work at the time, and never did get one. I had a new toyota truck with the 4speed though back in 86. Ended up signing It over to My brother to use when I got another truck years later, he ran that thing into the ground, and It was about rusted to the ground LOL, but it still ran till the day he decided to buy a newer one, and I then sold It cheap to a friend that needed the motor and trans for his, because it was just gathering more rust sitting in the back yard not being used. My brother liked It so much he got another one that was newer, had a good clean body on It, and drove It for years, It ran up until he got rid of It this Last week. He went out a got a newer tacoma. I could'nt believe how much they cost now :eek:. Nice truck though. Only 2wheel drive, but looks like a 4wheel. Has the towing package, and seems to tow easily with very little effort.

Greg
 
> I can't imagine how my regular customers get so many dents and dings in their shafts. One guy brings me shafts that have really deep dents that wrap all the way around the shaft,and in more than just the one spot. For those,I also use the ammonia/leather trick. For routine removal,I do my normal shaft cleaning. I hit the shaft at first with 400 or 600,depending on how bad it is. I then lightly spray a Magic Eraser with a citrus based degreaser instead of water,and run up and down several times,rotating the sponge often. It tends to leave a film,so I wipe it down with a paper towel lightly dampened with the degreaser. I've found that the Eraser takes out most light dents easily,and most of the time can start sanding with 600. I also use the steam method from time to time,using small dampened gun cleaning patches and a butter knife heated with a small butane torch. There have been times when I've gone 2 years without having to take a dent out of my own shafts. Tommy D.
 
The damp rag technique works good on a lathe....sometimes on deep dents I will use just a drop of water right on the dent...let it soak in I've raised some nasty looking dents out that way...it may be needed to repeat it a couple of times.
________
 
Last edited:
olsonsview said:
I have had some succuss with small tight dents by first very lightly sanding the shiny glaze from the dented area so the wood accepts the moisture evenly. I use maybe 320 grit and only sand the dent. Then a qtip, or a medical syringe can put a drop of moisture on it, wait then remoisten. Then heat the end of an old dull tool, like a screwdriver with a propane torch, lightly touch the spot that is moist and you will hear the moisture sizzle and see the dent quickly raise. I have never scorched wood, if the repair does not raise it enough, I remoisten and start over, never touch dry wood with the hot tool! you can finish it off with a little steam, then reburnish with a leather. The problem with steaming is that too many wood fibres are raised, these should be left alone as they were not dented, do not fix what ain't broke!

Tap, Tap, also works well.
 
I had a guy bring me a shaft that his dog had gotten a hold of. This thing was full of deep teeth marks. I started by sanding to get down to wood and then on the lathe just using water in a squeze bottle and a piece of leather was able to swell most of them completely out. The others required a little extra sanding. When I was done you couldn't tell it had been eaten by a dog.
 
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