Removing a burn from oak tabletop

[nev]

I have been asked about a repair, and its not something for me to take on but out of curiosity ...

Assuming it's solid wood and not a veneer or engineered wood of some kind is removing a burn 'simply' sanding and refinishing or is it more involved?

 

[Trevanion]

I'm not 100% sure there's much more you can do other than scrape or sand and refinish for an actual scorch mark like that where the wood has actually burned and not just the finish. It looks like there's a flake of wood missing in the worst scorched bit in the coarse grain, which may suggest it's a veneer rather than solid timber but it's hard to tell without looking in person, if it is veneer it's a definite case of knowing where to stop before you make things much worse by scraping or sanding too far.

 

[AJB Temple]

For burns you must remove all burnt wood if you wish it to disappear.

Many years ago I used to repair valuable guitars for collectors who wished to remove cigarette burns. Unless they were very superficial I would remove the burn with a very sharp gouge, and then match in a piece of similar wood shaped to match, or form a veneer patch.

Very difficult indeed to to it invisibly. The finishing is tricky and that was not my skill so I would sub that aspect out to a man who repaired antique finishes, who was a real artist.