Buffing wheel
Procedure:
Removal:
Note, this is going to sound very very harsh. Also note that this could ruin your dash wood. I had several people theorize
that it would. It worked absolutely beautifully for me & I would do it all over again. My dash wood was cracked very badly
so I had nothing to loose. As you might be able to visualize from the pictures, there were about 15 crack lines across the
glove compartment wood piece. A couple were lifting up slightly.
Anyway, the first step was to remove all the wood. The center dash piece comes off easily. One must first remove the vanity
tray in the door & the rest will be self evident. The rest of the dash wood (except the switch wood) is not so easy. I used
a flat kitchen knife to get behind the rest of the trim pieces & gently but VERY firmly worked them loose. They are held in
by xmas tree profiled metal springs. You might be able to get to the backside of some of them by removing the glove box
(which looks very nice redone in black leather by the way.) If you remove the trip computer you will easily be able to
push/pull out the switch wood trim from the backside. Removal of the switches should be self explanatory. (The wood on my
switches was cracked & nearly falling off.)
The door panels must come off in order to access the wood on the door. Small nuts on the backside hold that wood on if I
recall correctly.
Prep:
- Clean your wood with alcohol or acetone.
- Take some valium & spray down the old clear coat with aircraft paint stripper. This will take a few hours (2-4)& repeated
treatments. I tried not to let too much stripper hit already stripped veneer, but it often could not be avoided & did not seem to hurt the wood.
- Use the fine (softish) wire or plastic brush to help scrub off varnish chips & stripper under the garden hose. Yes... the garden hose....
Note that Saul Chaplin of British Autowood has an alternate suggestion:
- While I have no experience with aircraft stripper per se, you can also buy
"Strypeeze" in semi-paste at Lowes and this stuff works great. It acts quite
slowly, and sometimes takes 24hrs to shift the more stubborn finishes, but
will not harm or stain the veneer (unless it's left on there for days..).
There should be no need to wash the wood with water or bleach - Lacquer
thinners usually does the job followed by a light sanding with 220 garnet
paper. Make sure you stress garnet paper, as wet/dry or silicone carbide
etc.. will leave unwanted grit in the veneer grain.
- Also you shouldn't have to stain unless a custom tint is req'd. I have always
found that plenty of colour is brought back without staining.
- Repeat procedure until every last bit of clearcoat is stripped from the wood.
The Next Two Steps Are Optional If A Different Color Is Desired:
- Douse the wood with household bleach & toss some white cloth on it to keep it wet for 5 to 15 minutes.
Note that the traditional wood bleach is oxalic acid which also preps the wood to take stain. The choice is up to you. Bleach worked fine for me.
- Wash your wood.
- Allow your wood to air dry.
Al Askevold notes that this is an ideal point at which to put put your pieces into a home made drying cabinet:
- A "drying cabinet is simple to make, just a box with a 60w light bulb (on bottom) and some ventilation holes on top and bottom.
- I use water to raise the whiskers in some woods before final sanding.
- A day or two in a drying cabinet will bring the water content in the wood down to the level of the kiln dried woods.
- Fix any lifting wood by backfilling a diabetic syringe with thin superglue. Insert the needle tip under the lifting crack
& put just enough glue in such that once the wood is pressed flat no glue exudes from the crack. You'll have to think about
this one to get it right. Press the lifting wood flat against the backing plywood. Use a weight if necessary. Note that you should probably do this step after the wood has dried, but before it is put into a drying cabinet (if you choose to do so... I didn't) as cyanoacrylates need a bit of moisture to cure & the wood will be softer if there is some moisture in it.
- The grain will have become rougher from the application of water, but if you must sand, use 600 grit or finer garnet sandpaper. I
wish I had.
(Optional) Sign shop graphics:
- You'll have to check around with local sign shops for prices etc, but you may be able to have some custom graphics made up
for your dash.
- Take your ideas/scanable artwork to the sign shop. Keep in mind that certain designs may not be possible in vinyl.
- Have them cut it out of any color premium vinyl to your size specifications. Lettering may be done the same way.
- Have them apply release tape to the front side of your graphic. The back side will have peel off paper on it.
- When you're ready to use the graphic, peel off the wax paper backside. Cleanly apply to your project.
- Peel off the release tape, then using a razor blade to lift an edge, peel out the CENTER section of the vinyl. The idea is to make a stencil that you can airbrush. Apply more masking as necessary.
- Stenciling of lines is possible with simple electrical tape or pinstriping tape.
The refinish:
- Stain your scrap wood & check the stain time/color/density for your satisfaction. Many different options are available.
I'd recommend that you buy a book on staining. I personally used a mix of several different Minwax cherry/red stains to
achieve the desired result. I actually bleached my dash about 3 times using the procedure above before I was happy with the
color. Since you're about to coat the wood with epoxy it shouldn't matter whether you are using a water based, oil based, dye
based, or acid based stain.
Al Askevold relays an nice tip about certain hardwoods:
- Curly and Birdseye maple in a very hard wood, parts of it will not take a stain very well. An old gunsmith taught me how to stain/dye the fine maples. The key is to use an acid stain, "Magic Maple," a clear solution that will turn the wood a black to brownish dull color, very shocking the first time! Careful sanding of this stain will give the contrast grain, then a coat or two of leather dye for the color will make the curled maple come to life!
- Allow the stain to dry.
- Following the directions on the "EnviroTex" epoxy mix just enough epoxy for a thin coat in a clear plastic cup. Mixing in
the proper ratio is CRITICAL. You don't want the epoxy to turn out too soft.
Saul Chaplin has had alternate experience with this product that must be considered:
-
Personally I can't say I recommend EnviroTex (even though you can get a near
perfect finish with no hassle on FLAT parts), as I have tested this myself
and It didn't hold up as well as expected. It didn't crack, but kind of went
very murky and sort of "pickled" itself. The test was over 12-18 months of
exterior exposure on a veneered panel. I suppose the test simulated about 5
years in a car interior in Florida.
-
My opinion about EnviroTex: OK as a surface builder, and something that would
be sanded/flatted back and lacquered/varnished over. Ultimately, a good high
solids 2K Polyurethane (like the Italian ICA) should be used if basic spray
equipment is available.
The author of this web page also makes note that EnviroTex has a new product with increased UV resistance: Product # EX74. I, however, have no experience with their new product.
- Raise the dash wood with stilts/stands/something. Styrofoam is perfect because it can be cut away if it gets stuck to the
wood. Put on your Nitrile gloves, pour just a bit of the epoxy onto the wood & spread it thin onto the wood. You want to have
it just thick enough to gloss but not so thin that you see much of the wood grain. This will be your first coat & the coat
to which you apply graphic to if you so choose. There may be a way to add coloring to the epoxy itself, but I haven't investigated this possibility.
- Yank the gloves off & pull out the propane torch while the epoxy is freshly applied. Fire that sucker up & waft it over
the surface of the wet epoxy. The CO2 released from the torch will cause any bubbles to come to the surface & pop. You can just exhale on the surface, but passing out in a puddle of hardening epoxy is not a good thing. You will need to do this every 15
minutes or so for about an hour.
- Cover your wood with a lint free box & allow to cure overnight (at least 18 hrs, probably closer to 36 or more).
- Use a razor to cut off any epoxy drips. Scrape the surface flat with a razor blade if necessary, or sand it. It'll look
fine later. Since I applied the epoxy carefully the first time I didn't have to do much of this.
- If you wish, you may apply your graphics now & airbrush them in with the finish of your choice. Anything is possible as
long as the finish is thin. I personally chose a metalizer. Peel off the graphic as soon as it is dry in order to avoid runs
or pulling the paint up with the vinyl stencil. If the graphic is not to your liking, remove it with lacquer thinner or
acetone & start over. If you do this quickly it will not hurt the epoxy.
- The visible sides of the wood around the glove box are painted so that you don't see the plywood. They edges were painted brown on my car. I found that an almost perfect match was Testors Model Master Leather color paint. Paint the edges as necessary and your final coat (thin in this area) will create a nice cover finish.
Saul again has some advice:
- The best stuff to use for touchups on the veneer, and for doing the edges
etc. is "Earth Pigment". This is an ultra fine powder available in many
shades that can be mixed with some of the chosen finish (if using anything
except pour-on epoxy).
- Apply the second thick coat per recommendations on the "EnviroTex" package. This is the FINAL epoxy coat. It should be
fairly thick, but attempt to avoid drips. Break out the propane torch & follow the previous procedures. Cover with the lint
free box & allow to cure.
- Return 36 to 72 or so hrs later to admire your handiwork. Test an inconspicuous are for hardness. The epoxy will cure more &
shrink just a tiny bit over the next 6 months. As you can see from my dash, you can barely tell where the crack lines were.
Optional steps (I did not do these on my dash but probably will before I incur UV damage):
- If the surface is not as glassy perfect as you would like (it will be very close) then you may wet sand the surface with
1000 grit or finer or scrape the surface flat with a razor blade (then sand).
- Apply varnish, flouropolymer in a few coats (per the products recommendations).
- Polish with your buffer avoiding heating up the finish. Viola! You now have a perfectly glassy dash with UV protected
epoxy.
Final notes:
Do not under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES use Behr epoxy as found at Lowes. I did a table with this crap. It has a horrible problem with shrinkage.
Another webpage describing the use of EnviroTex to refinish a dash is located here: JWHA - Refinishing a BJ8 Wood Dash. It seems to have been written in a timely fashion after having used the product. For me, it's been quite a while between refinishing my dash & writing this web page.
The clear coat that Jaguar uses a polyester lacquer. The veneer on the "ski-slope is affixed to the backing by Resorcinol Resin. The adhesive dries with age & I have been told that it is often impossible to salvage the wood after stripping it. Note that since my car is a 1985, I didn't have to deal with the ski slope issue. You're on your own with that one. Good luck!
Epoxies are susceptible to a varying extent to UV yellowing. The EnviroTex that I used has held up extremely well in my car,
but some yellowing might not show up on my red dash and I do keep light out of the car as much as possible. The spar varnish or other finish will adhere very well to the epoxy & protect it from UV damage.
Follow this link (soon to be posted) to find out how to use EnviroTex Epoxy to refinish those UV damaged black trim rings around the growlers on your starfish wheels.
Forget this method if you want your wood to be absolutely perfect. You can't completely disguise the crack lines, but you can have a very good looking dash at very little cost using this method.
Pictures of my dash are also posted at the Jag Lovers website.
If you want an absolutely perfect interior I'd suggest you check out Saul Chaplin's www.britishautowood.com
