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Triumph TR6 - original dashboard

I intend to glue new walnut veneer to the face of my dashboard. Does anyone know what modern stains or varathane to use to achieve an original finish?

Also, I removed all the connections off of the instruments and would like to clean the lucar connections. Is there a particular tool or trick that anyone has used to clean these connectors?

John
JOHN BRUNATTI

John On my new dash I used a gun stock oil followed by a spray the company sells. I'll include a photo of the dash though it has been posted before. Here is the finish company:
http://www.birchwoodcasey.com/sport/index.html

DON KELLY

I've redone mine a couple of times, and you are welcome to learn what you can from my efforts. The first time I used cherry veneer applied with contact cement and finished with danish oil and wax. It had a lovely warmth to it, but after about 5 years the veneer started to delaminate. When it became unsightly I stripped it back to the substrate and applied burl walnut, this time with exterior wood glue sandwiched between sheets of MDF (protected by wax paper) and a lot of clamps. I finished it with 14 coats of spar varnish and hand rubbed the finish to a high gloss.

After 5 years the finish has started to check a bit and needs to be repolished. If I were to do it again, I would use a 2 part high gloss epoxy. I have used this on veneer in several Jaguar Series III's which have a panel consisting of veneer over metal that invariably cracks after only a couple of years. The earliest one that I have done with this product has been in service for almost 4 years and looks as new.

The product is from the Circa 1885 (1889? It's in the yellow box)product line and is available from RONA.

Tony
A. J. Koschinsky

Wouldn't use spar varnish on this for that reason
DON KELLY

Anyone just use good old boiled linseed oil to finish the dash?
db
Doug Baker

Go with the epoxy, and a pencil eraser works well of the contacts.
A R Christopher

Doug,
BLO will give a nice finish, plus it can be touched up at any time. A couple of caveats though. If you want it to cure "quickly", add some Japan Dryer to your BLO. Be very carefull of your used rags as they can spontaneously combust (caused by heating while curing). Dispose of them properly!

BLO also will darken with age. It can get VERY dark, to the point where it looks like dark brown paint. This can take years, but it's something to keep in mind. If you ever want to strip off BLO, oven cleaner (Lye) works well. Any of the purple cleaners (Castrol Super Clean, etc.) works even faster and easier - apply and rinse off.


I've been playing with redoing a few dashboards too and have learned a few things along the way.

First one was a buddy's that got stripped of its original veneer and replaced with some nice figured Etimoe. Used thinned carpenters glue and a bunch of weights to hold it down while drying. Finished it up with water based polyurethane.

Second one the dash and veneer were solid with a badly cracked finish. Some of the veneer had some water staining on it though. Mechanically stripped the old finish and "washed away" the water stains with soap and water. Light sanding and again finished with water poly.

Third one was stripped to the backing plywood by sanding with a pneumatic body file/sander. That was very quick and made the dash very flat! Glued down some figured Bubinga using carpenters glue again. This one ended up with some bubbles in the veneer despite the weights placed on it. Took a steam iron (about middle heat) and ironed it down flat. Tried the water poly on it, but it caused the glue underneath to soften enough for the bubbles to come back. Re-ironed the veneer and have put oil based poly on it. Not quite done with it, but it looks good so far.

I'll be doing one more in the near future. Another buddy wants his done in Lavoa. It will probably get done like the third one, minus the water poly step!

Tom
Tom Sotomayor

Tom
UUMMM...what is BLO and Japan Dryer?

John
Some good contact cleaner for the contacts and one of those small fine wire brushes. The Female spade connectors are very difficult to get inside (no comments please)...so the cleaner spray here might help. Fine emery cloth on the spades also works. Not too much though. Apply dielectric grease to the connectors when done.
Rick
Rick Crawford

BLO = Boiled Linseed Oil
Japan Dryer = ???
S Demers

Yep, BLO is Boiled Linseed Oil.

It takes a day or more to cure each BLO application. Heavier coats take longer as well as if it's cool or very humid. If put on too heavy, it gets sticky and remains that way for a long time. Wipe on heavy, let soak for an hour, then rub off the excess. Initial coats will mostly soak in. Later coats build up on the surface.

Raw linseed oil (sometimes labeled as 'Linseed Oil' or 'Pressed Linseed Oil' takes a VERY long time to cure between coats.

Not sure what Japan Dryer is exactly, but it does speed up the curing of BLO considerably. I got mine at Home Despot (Home Depot). It should be in the same isle as BLO and is labled "Japan Dryer". A pint can is enough to treat a gallon or more of BLO, so you don't need much.

BLO was typically used on military gun stocks until they went from wood to plastic / fiberglass. It darkens alot with time and exposure, but it is fairly waterproof. Any nicks or scratches are easily touched up. Once the finish / wood darkens though, it's that way for good. Even when stripped and BLO reapplied, the finish immediately goes dark. You can put a different type of finish over it (poly, etc.) after stripping and it does not show the darkening anywhere near as much.

There are a number of 'gun stock' oil finishes you can buy. "Lin-Speed" comes to mind. I don't have any experience with it, so can't comment.

I used Tung oil on some furniture about 30 years ago. I hasn't darkened like BLO, but it's proven it is NOT waterproof. Maybe I did it wrong or didn't put on enough, don't know.

As with any oil finish, treat the used rags with great respect. Lay them out flat to dry. Do NOT wad them up and toss them in the garbage! They can generate enough heat when wadded up to self ignite. I lay mine out flat on the concrete driveway with rocks or chunks of metal on the corners to hold them down. I'd hate to hear of anyone losing their TR, house or worse.

Tom
Tom Sotomayor

Keep forgeting to mention - I don't use contact cement because many of them won't stand up to the repeated higher heat found in a car. They seem to last 3-5 years and then let go. That's why I've stuck (pun intended) with wood glue. If / when the glue releases, an application of heat and pressure (wife's iron) will settle it back down. The finish won't likely survive doing this, but at least the veneer won't be ruined.

A lot of the ready to use veneer strips use heat to apply them. The glue on the back side looks just like the stuff I use if left to dry.

Tom
Tom Sotomayor

Tom,
Thanks for the clarification. I use BLO on all of my walnut gunstocks and with repeated application and lots and lots of rubbing, a very clear, very hard finish eventually develops. Same with walnut furniture that I've built. Repairs are simply more BLO and again lots of elbow grease. I would think that a true oil finish (BLO) would obviate bubbles, brush marks etc that inevitably happen with epoxy/lacquer/etc. finishes and stand up well to the ravages of time and sunlight.
db
Doug Baker

John,
For cleaning your electrical contacts, here's a suggestion. Now don't everyone dump on me for being out of the box...!! Vinegar is a weak acetic acid which will "clean" contamination and oxidation off copper/brass fairly quickly. Just dip the contact male/female spade/bullet/etc. into a container of vinegar for several minutes (long enough to work) rinse in clear water to halt the reduction, then wipe dry or use a can of compressed air, and you're likley to have a bright shiny new surface that should offer optimial electrical potential. Dab it good with dielectric grease, connect and forget!! Vinegar is also a great weed killer for sidewalk cracks. Spray it on, let it work, rinse and the moss, grass, etc just washes away!
db
Doug Baker

Doug,
That's one reason I've used polyurethane extensively (first oil and lately water based) - they dry slowly enough to let the bubbles escape. Even the quick dry oil poly will self level before setting up.

I start out brushing the poly on, then sand each coat. Usually the first 4-5 coats get completely removed, except for what's caught down in the grain. Obviously woods with open grain (like oak) take a lot more coats than those with closer grain (walnut, mahogany, etc.). Once I get a good base built up, I switch to my touch-up spray gun. It gives a finer finish than rattle cans, unfortunately it can be a bear to clean.

Almost all of the military stocks I did ended up using BLO. It is nice to work with and gives great results. I just saw what 50-60 years of it on there did to the tone of the wood. For them it is ok, because that's the way they're supposed to look now. I did redo an original M14 stock in poly. It was so dark when I got it that it was impossible to tell if it was walnut or birch. Stripped it using Super Clean and it was gorgeous! I just couldn't hide it again under the BLO, so used the oil poly instead. It came out a lot nicer that the commercial M1A stocks available then.

This is getting way off topic, sorry! IIRC it is the albumen (same stuff as in egg whites) in the wood that helps the BLO to catalyze. It may be what causes the darkening too. Dad tried, on a new stock, an old recipe for filling the wood grain. Don't laugh, it was egg whites! He then used either Lin-Speed or Tru-Oil to finish it. The finish was impressive - glass smooth and beautiful. About a year later he stripped it off and redid it since the stock had turned almost black.

If using any of the commercial finishes - poly, spar varnish, etc. you can adjust the level of gloss quite easily. It it's too shiny, mix some talc into the finish before applying. You can take a can of full gloss and turn it into flat quite easily. Caution, a little goes a long way! Make sure you mix it in thoroughly too.

Tom
Tom Sotomayor

This thread was discussed between 10/02/2008 and 13/02/2008

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