Hi Rick,
I did my dash over the Christmas holidays. It still had the original
varnish on it. To remove, I used a standard hot air gun used for paint
stripping. The main thing is to take your time and not let the wood get too
hot (it's possible to burn it if you aren't careful). With my dash, the
varnish was so badly gone, I only needed to have very light heating of the
wood to lift the varnish.
The other way is chemically using a paint stripper. There should be lots of
products available. If you decide on this method, read the instructions as
this stuff normally falls into the evil category. Rubber gloves etc aren't
a bad idea (and certainly aren't wimpy!!).
The other alternative I have had some sucess with is dip stripping. There
may be an antique furniture restorer in your area who will immerse the dash
in polystripper for a couple of days. This doesn't damage the wood but can
some times pull out the darker stain on the rear of the glove box lid
depending on what stripper they use.
To finish mine, I gave the stripped wood a light sand (very very light)
with glass paper (around 800 gritt). Next I used thinned down epoxy based
varnish (which is designed for marine applications) and gave around 10 thin
coats. Finally, I just got an ordinary spray bomb of satin polyurethane for
the top coat.
If you want a shiny glass like finish, you can polish the varnish with a
fine rubbing compound (you may be able to get some from a panel beaters). I
would leave any polishing of the varnish for around two weeks just to make
sure it is hard.
I have also seen some wonderful results using normal polyurethane (I only
used marine stuff because I had just finished building a yacht and had it
left over). I'm not sure what products are available in your area, but a
good place for advice is the local furniture maker.
As with any kind of finishing work, the more effort you put in, the better
the results.
When doing this work, make sure you have plenty of ventilation, especially
if you are using thinners. Some people have a bad reaction breathing this
stuff.
Hope this is helpful,
Cheers
Bernard Robbins
'71 PI (still can't find that b****y oil leak!)
'73 TR6 PI (running sweet)
At 14:05 3/08/00 -0400, you wrote:
> Listers,
>
> First, the dash was sold within 2 hours of posting to the list(s).
> Isn't the 'net wonderful!
>
> Second, I like to thank scott s. and john t. among others, who
> noticed that I totally screwed up describing the wiper switch
> holes. Yes, the '73 - '74 has a ROUND wiper hole, while my '72 has
> a rectangular hole (damn'd single speed wipers!).
>
> Woodcraft 101 question:
> Now, can somebody recommend a way to remove the yellowed, peeling
> shellac?/varnish on my '72 dash so I can refinish it. There's no
> damage to the underlying wood veneer and I don't want to have to
> scrape it. Also accepting suggestions on what is good to finish it
> with.... re-shellac, poly ?
>
> thanks,
> Rick Olson
>
>
Regards
Bernard Robbins
NEC New Zealand Ltd
Network Solutions
P.O. Box 1936
Wellington
Ph (04) 381 6274
fax (04) 381 6284
email brobbins@wlg.nec.co.nz
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