Short of complete re-finishing?
We were moving some furniture late one night and due to tiredness, scratched the floor.
Anything I can do to smooth out the scratches in the finish?
Rub a walnut (shelled) on the scratches. Not permanent, thought.
If the floor has a fairly light stain, spray polyurethane may do the trick. You can get a temporary preview of the results by wiping mineral spirits on the scratch. If it looks acceptable, allow it to dry and then lightly spray on the poly.
For a darker floor, visit a home center and try to pick out a stain that matches as close as possible. After staining the scratch, lightly spray with poly - either gloss or satin depending upon the original top coat you currently have.
We have hardwood floors in the basement rec room. They’ve gotten scratched up over the years. We “fixed” them last weekend by simply applying some stain to the scratches. The scratches are still there, but now you can’t see them.
Here’s the explanation:
At the factory, the wood was sanded, and stain was applied to the top surface afterwards. The stain soaked into the wood a few thousandths of inch. And then one or two coats of polyurethane was applied. When you scratch your wood floor, the sharp object penetrates trough the polyurethane and through stained layer of wood, thus exposing the deeper and unstained wood (which is lighter in color than the stained layer). Your eye picks up on this. To “fix” the problem, you simply need to apply some stain to the unstained wood deep in the scratch. It won’t make the scratch “go away,” but it will make it nearly invisible.
Procedure:
Using a stain the matches (or closely matches) the color of your floor, apply stain directly to scratches using a soft towel. (Don’t be concerned if the stain makes contact with areas that are not scratched, as the stain will not stick to polyurethane.) Wait 15 seconds, then wipe the area with a different cloth. That’s it! Some people may suggest you seal the scratches with polyurethane, but I don’t think that’s necessary, and may actually make it more visible.
You could try the crayons they sell for this purpose also. Here’s one brand: Robot or human?
It helps to soften them a bit over a lighter. Then just draw along the scratch.
I just used one of the brown crayons from my kid’s drawing set on some light scratches on the kitchen floor and they’re hard to see now.