The Non Toxic Way to Remove Furniture Scratches Easily

In the process of finishing our dining room, I needed to find a large dining room table that wouldn’t break the bank. I was over the moon when I found a 90-inch antique pine table for only $80 at a local flea market. Of course, part of the reason it was that inexpensive is because it has a lot of wear and tear. I didn’t have time to sand and refinish it right away so I needed a solution to clean up and hide the scratches for the time being. With a four-year-old in the house, I also needed a non-toxic option. It turns out that the answer was sitting in my pantry: walnuts!

Using Walnuts to Fix Furniture Scratches

I had heard that you could rub walnuts into furniture scratches as a quick fix, but I wasn’t sure if it would actually work. It kind of makes sense because walnuts produce oil when ground, but who knew if it would actually stain and treat wood. Still, what was the harm in trying, especially on a table I plan on refinishing eventually anyway?

Now, for some reason I still had a Tupperware container with some walnuts that I accidentally burnt at Thanksgiving. I’m not sure why I was saving them. Just another of my weird ADHD tendencies I guess, but it paid off this time. I grabbed the container and headed to my dining room. Armed with just the walnuts, I started to look for scratches on my table.

How to Apply Walnuts to Furniture to Fix Scratches

I have to say I was amazed with how well the walnuts dressed up the scratches. They are much less visible after being treated with the walnuts, and it couldn’t have been easier. It was actually kind of addictive. You just take the walnut and rub it into the scratch, like an eraser. You can watch a video at the end of this post that shows exactly how I did it.

Really, anyone could use this technique easily. It takes care of the scratches instantly. After rubbing the walnuts into the scratches, I just buffed with a soft cloth. I’m not sure, however, if this method would work on wood laminate or composite wood surfaces.

Walnut Scratch Repair Results

The scratches that I repaired with the walnuts look even less noticeable in person than the photos above suggest. I was incredibly pleased with the result. I did notice that it added a slight bit of redness to the areas, but that didn’t have a huge effect on how well they were hidden.

After giving it a try, I would definitely recommend using walnuts for hiding scratches on furniture that you can’t refinish. It’s not a permanent solution, but it is a great way to hide those imperfections that can make your furniture look cheap and damaged. Check out the video below to see how the scratches disappear like magic. It’s so satisfying.