Wood Refurb

Ian_fegan

Ian_fegan

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I have given my woodwork to a restorer. He is offering me a choice of finishes including; Shellac, Varnish, Lacquer, French Polish. Let me know if you think the correct answer is in here, or if it should be something else...

Thanks..

Ian.
 
I'm a furniture designer, and have spent three decades with sawdust up my snout; that said, I'm not a finishing professional...almost all that I have learned about automotive finishes comes from other's successes and failures, and from finishing pros that I do work with...Any of the finishes that you mentioned are historically great, but only for the pieces inside your house. So unless your car is going into a museum...
Polyurethane seems to have the flexibility and durability to survive the heat, cold, damp, dry, UV, and cleaning materials that automobiles are subjected to. (To me, the Gloss is too shiny, but can be wooled down after rubbing, and then buffed back up, or a Satin sheen can be acceptable, not sure about Flat sheen...have your guy experiment with some small panels, and remember that all of our parts will be in the vertical position, which should be considered when looking at samples) Polyester is a great finish, but is a two part finish that can only be done on a flat line and is thus not viable. Catylized lacquer is a durable finish, but is too brittle, from what I am told.
To me, too shiny and all you see is reflections, rather than the depth of the finish/wood...I like about a 60-75 sheen...My .02 cents worth, but its your car. Sorry so wordy (prednisone for my shoulder...)
 
Original finish was lacquer and what I would call a satin finish.
It's pretty durable but you will notice on many of the original pieces you will see cracking or crazing.
This is typical of a lacquer finish that is 40 years old.
There are many choices that would all be reasonably acceptable.
Many of the catylized finishes will last the longest and come in gloss, semi gloss and satin.
Polyester is like iron. That's what is used on the Nardi steering wheels. Extremely difficult to remove. Don't ask me how I know.

I am using a catalyzed lacquer similar to what they use on kitchen cabinets. Very hard and durable and a satin finish.
Polyurethane would be a pretty good choice as it can be easily worked. Made to any surface sheen you might like.
So many ways to go.
I thought it was interesting that you mentioned French Polish. An alcohol based finish.
Can be very beautiful but can be damaged fairly easily and very few know how to apply it the traditional way.
If you spill that beer or glass of wine sitting in the dash tray you will have a mess. :)
 
My understanding of French polish based on 1954 wood shop, is it is a mixture of shellac and linseed oil. the shellac requiring denatured alcohol as the solvent to use. The finish was applied using a piece of cotton waste saturated with the mixture and being rubbed in.
 
...usually wrapped the cotton wad with soft cheesecloth or in my case, old undies or t-shirts...surprised they still taught it in wood shop that late into the century. I still love the nasty smell of hide glue in the morning...
 
Bert Poliakoff said:
My understanding of French polish based on 1954 wood shop, is it is a mixture of shellac and linseed oil. the shellac requiring denatured alcohol as the solvent to use. The finish was applied using a piece of cotton waste saturated with the mixture and being rubbed in.
Click to expand...
I never used linseed oil. My shellac was always mixed from dried shellac flakes with alcohol to dissolve the flakes. Sometimes I would use a little mineral oil in the application process.
Most of my french polishing involved music box cases like this one.
 

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i used wood sealer and acrylic spray varnish on top of self adhesive veneer - diy job but think it has come out ok....
 
Ian_fegan said:
I have given my woodwork to a restorer. He is offering me a choice of finishes including; Shellac, Varnish, Lacquer, French Polish. Let me know if you think the correct answer is in here, or if it should be something else...

Thanks..

Ian.
Click to expand...
I'd like to know how you get on. I'm in Sydney but will be looking for someone to do my woodwork eventually. I saw Madera in USA advertising but it was a very old add. I have emaile them to see if they still exist.
 
Renowned furniture in Salisbury Brisbane... Dan has done 2 dashes now and he does perfect work ..plus he is a car man..google him and you will have his contact...you could send it up to him in pieces (they take them completely apart to restore anyway
 
Thanks for that. I believe removing the bits is no fun. The original finish is hard to replicate. How do you deal with that?
 
For what its worth, I usually do two top coats of gloss polyurethane, then after curing, 0000 steel wool rub, then rub out finish with fine compound gives me about a 60 sheen (like an old hand-rubbed Jag woodwork; not too shiny, not too dull)...our original finish, judging from the covered parts that never saw the sun look to be about a 40-50 sheen. It was probably a filled finish; rather, it had a filler coat ragged in/on before the top coats of poly, so it is not grainy, or "hungry"-looking.
Shoot higher sheen than you want, rub it down/out, buff it up. I think that satin poly does the same thing; I prefer the "softness" of the rubbing.
Andrew's, above, looks very good.
 
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