Wood Grain Veneer Dashs

[Frog2Spider]

Any tips on product to use, or installations?

[DieselSpider]

To replace the plywood panels or refinish them?

If solid without any water marks or black stains like mine I would just clean them up, lightly sand with 120 and refinish with a good UV protected exterior or marine poly.

Any woodworkers supply will have a variety of interesting veneers to recover existing on new home made plywood panels to make a personal statement in burl, zebra wood, etc.

[SoFlaFiat]

I've had good luck with sanding the existing pieces and using epoxy to apply new veneer. Multiple coats of spar varnish!

[RRoller123]

These guys are the best. Actual photos of the lot that you are buying. Sand and use yellow glue, thinly and evenly spread, then clamp in a simple plywood press and you can veneer the existing pieces easily. Cut the overlay back close with a razor knife, then sand to the final outline. Cracking and chipping is the enemy of veneer, go slowly and carefully with the razor knife and sandpaper.

http://veneersupplies.com/

[Frog2Spider]

Thanks for the advise all.

My dash is presently a Arborite or Formica material with a wood grain pattern finish, so sanding, staining and/or applying any refinishing top coat is not possible.

The site you suggested RRoller is excellent. I'm sure I will find what I'm looking for there!

Thanks again for all your replies.

[RRoller123]

I did my dash veneer on the stock "formica" dash, no problem! Madrone Burl.

[Frog2Spider]

Wow, very nice!
What stain & color, and finish did you use?

Very, very nice.

[RRoller123]

No stain, I hate stain. Hides the natural color of wood. The only time I use it is when a customer wants "old cherry" in a quick way.

3 coats of spar ("spah" here in Boston) varnish, a couple days between coats. Then some wax, applied with 400 grit paper. I use Boston Polish brand wax, but anything that is hard will do. the Boston Polish gives a matte finish, which I like.

I chose the Madrone Burl because I like it, but also, it was factory on my friend's Pantera. Maybe the two cars would get confused for each other side by side?

[aj81spider]

I saw Pete's car at Larz Anderson last summer. I walked by and said "what's that Pantera doing parked among all the Fiats?"

Seriously, though, the dash looks better in person than in the picture - and it looks darn good in the picture!

[RRoller123]

Hahahaha!!!! Thanks, AJ. Looking forward to car season now that the weather has finally broken. The last small pile of snow disappeared from my driveway today.

[Frog2Spider]

Thanks again RRoller,
Two more questions.
Did you use a spa varnish in gloss, semi, satin or flat?
Most likely won't find 'Boston Wax' here in the west, so do I use a 'natural' wood wax? (Like a hardwood floor wax)

[azruss]

waxes are ok for indoor with no durability requirements. I would not recommend it for outdoor. Most of the waxes are not UV stabilized. Once you have wax on the wood, you wont be able to put a different finish on it. I did my wood 2 different ways. I used a urethane spar varnish in a rattle can. 4 heavy coats with dry 400g sand between coats. I did not sand the last coat. The last pieces of wood i did, i used an automotive urethane clear with a hardener. This is a far more expensive way to go but the clear coat will be solvent proof, so much more durable. Do not use a stain, as that will lift the clear coat. The rattle can urethane is about 4 years old and i am beginning to see the start of a crack where the wood was compromised. I did have a lot of trouble with fisheye due to oils in the wood. I shy away from flat finishes because they tend to get chalky. I semi-gloss may be the way to go. The wood I used was 115 years old.

[DieselSpider]

Marine Spar Varnish with a hardener is a durable finish that will resist scratching. A good waxing will give it extra durability afterwards.

Use a good resorcinol glue to apply the veneer. I got spoiled as head of maintenance in a woodworking mill since I had access to a microwave glue press that would set and cure the resorcinol in moments. It was also nice to have access to heavy door skin veneers that were 1/8" thick too.

[RRoller123]

You will get 100 different answers on how to do it, and they all will work! Mine is 3 years on now, and looks exactly as it did on day 1.

Pete