I just wanted to relate my experience in refinishing the wood on my '78
Spitfire. Actually this is the second time that I have attempted to
refinish the wood. The first time I was very naive and attempted to
sand off that thick yellow hard-as-nails coating that seems to chip off
when you don't want it to, but when you want to remove it it seems like
it will never come off. Paint remover just doesn't touch it, so I
attempted to sand it off. What I didn't know [then] is that the
vernierunder that coat is paper thin, and it is virtually impossible to
sand it without removing layers. So, I had a mess on my hands.
Recovery was partial, in that I carefully sanded down [uniformly] to a
lower layer of wood and went about finishing that layer. Unfortunately,
the lower layers are not furniture quality, so the look of my dash was
not what you would call primo.
After a couple of years of looking at that, after seeing a couple of
notes here, and after pondering the problem, I decided to try again.
This time I suceeded in begging an old set of Spitfire wood from a local
junkyard, who gave it to me gratis. This set was in poor condition, so
I had to carefully remove that hard yellow layer, but this time I did it
very very carefully using a razor blade, making certain I didn't gouge
the wood. Then I filled in all the holes and nicks [that the DPO had
caused over the years] with plastic wood. Finally, I used some of that
waterproof "magic" contact cement to re-cement layers of plywood and
vernier that had come apart at the edges, most likely because of rain
and weather over the years. My thanks to the local junkyard for parting
with these precious pieces of wood, because their curves and instrument
cluster "holes" would have been very difficult to cut and copy precisely
using my home equipment. Since I didn't have a clue as to how my effort
would turn out, I didn't want to sacrifice my current wood on my
"experiment", so I was glad I had another set to play with..
Next I got hold of a roll of high quality vernier at a local woodworking
store that had just opened. That roll of paper-thin mahogany wood cost
me $34 and would probably be enough tocover about ten Spitfire dash
sets, but the cost was well worth it ! The quality of the surface is
excellent, and the surface is fine sanded, ready to finish as it comes
out of the box. I don't have a clue as to what I'll do with the
leftover piece, but it's in the shop for now! Glued and clamped for
several hours with contact cement, then rough-trimmed each of the three
dash pieces with a fresh razor blade. Finish trimmed and carefully
sanded the edges and instrument holes. Stained and applied several
coats of marine grade spar varnish. Hand rubbed and waxed.
And, it looks magnificent, if I do say myself !!!
I suppose that I could have taken the easy way out, shelling out a few
hundred for new wood, but that would have taken all the fun and
satisfaction out of the hobby !
If you have plenty of time to devote to this project, you might want to
consider this route, as the result looks like furniture quality.
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