Amazon sells a $10 touch-up pen for scratched wood and we tested it out

A while back, I bought a mahogany vanity for $40 on a half-off day at the thrift store. The piece of furniture has darling antique details that I love, including little keyholes above the top drawers and a commanding mirror that bounces morning sunlight around the room. It’s a statement piece in my guest bedroom, with ample drawer space for visitors.

But, like most furniture that you buy second-hand, this vanity had some wear and tear. I had to razor off stubborn tape and stickers from the mirror. It also has some significant scratches throughout. I thought about staining the wood or even painting it, but I didn’t want to strip this piece of its original charm.

The diplomatic (and easy and cheap!) solution: An Old Masters Scratchide Touch-Up Stain Pen that I bought from Amazon for $10.38. I saw that it helped transform some scratched up wood floors and thought I’d put it to the test on my thrifty, nifty vanity.

MORE: We put this viral wood scratch fixer to the test

The pen comes in eight popular stain colors. I opted for the “red mahogany” as a match for this piece of furniture, and it was just right. It’s super simple to use: You shake up the pen, and, once you press it down on your surface, you’ll see the wood stain color saturate the felt tip of the pen and start to work its magic. Just color in the scratched area. I traced the scratches on the vanity and used a paper towel to wipe off the excess. I found it helpful to wipe in a circular motion to blend in the stain. You can reapply to darken the color after the stain dries or blend another color to get your stain just right.

Here’s the pen, ready to meet its match (quite literally, right?).

I was blown away by how well it covered up the scratches. I gave the entire vanity a facelift in under 20 minutes‚ and that included the prep work, like dusting the wood and getting the vanity ready for her makeover.

Here are some before-and-after photos.

This was one of the deepest scratches, but still only took a couple swipes of the pen. The wood colors on the furniture look a little different in this before-and-after because the sun in Denver was playing a little hide-and-seek while I was doing my project.

The touch-up pen also easily covered up several surface scratches. Can you even spot where the scratches were?

The touch-up pen doesn’t just work on floors and furniture. It can also be applied to doors, woodwork paneling and kitchen cabinets.

My review: 5 stars! The pen was easy to use and covered up scratches better than I expected. It actually made the project feel more like a magic trick than a chore.