Hi my friends, it has been a while. Being a "former" Jag owner and now a vintage Daimler owner, I have been over at the Daimler Lanchester Owners Club (DLOC) so not able to see my friends here much anymore! But the following info I wanted to share with you who are interested in restoring the wood in your car.

As a BMW owner also, I sometimes watch the BMW owner's threads when having technical issues. One fellow on the site did a post with a "pour on" finish called EnviroTex - link here - EnviroTex Lite | Environmental Technology Inc. I got 32 oz at my local hobby shop for a very reasonable retail price of $34.99, with a 50% off coupon making it $17.50. I experimented with it and had mixed results, but now have it down to a science, and am VERY happy with the results. There are some very important things to know about how to do the process that will save you some serious headaches (believe me, I suffered through the headaches to come up with this process). Pics follow at the end of this post. Here is the skinny on the process -

I used an organic paint remover to remove the old finish. Sand smooth, but not too deep or you will go through the veneer! If you do this, you've ruined the veneer and you will have to re-do it entirely.

Make sure ALL the paint remover is cleaned off the wood. If the paint remove is water based, clean it with damp cloth.

Here are the specifics of the Envirotec Finish that unless you follow, you will be a sad Jaguar owner with lousy looking wood!;

1) Put a couple of coats of waxless shellac on the wood before proceeding to the EnviroTex finish. Make sure it is waxless, or you are in for a horrendous mess with areas where the pour on finish will not coat properly.

2) Measure the two components of Envirotex equally. Since it is an epoxy, you must mix a catalyst with the finish, and it is imperative that the mix is EXACTLY 50/50 (this one seems to be more sensitive to the ration than other epoxies I have used). To do this best, pour the equal parts into two clear plastic drinking cups so you can see you have the exact same amount in each cup. After measuring, pour BOTH cups into a third and stir for 2 minutes making sure you scrape the sides of the cup with a popsicle stick (or in my case, disposable chopsticks!). Once you have mixed it in this cup, pour into a 4th cup and stir an additional 2 minutes. This will ensure that the formula is mixed perfectly and that there is no remaining "unmixed" component. ANY unmixed component will not cure, and you end up with a sticky mess that will never dry. The only thing you can do if you mess this up is remove the finish, and start over. Unfortunately, I learned this on my first go around!

3) Don't use wax paper as protection for your countertop. The finish went right through it for some reason. Luckily, I did this on my glass dining room table which allowed me to remove it with a razor blade. Use several layers of newspaper (For instance, a whole sports section of papers). It will not penetrate the paper as easy. Fold the edges of the paper to make a small dam. This will keep the finish from running where you do not want it to run!

3) Make sure your wood piece is elevated high enough on wood blocks or the like so that you can reach the drippings and remove them as the finish begins to cure. Keep in mind that if the wood blocks extend beyond the edge of the piece you are coating, it will become glued in place, and a real bugger to remove. After 45 minutes to an hour, you will be ready to use a small stick to gently scrape the remaining dripping finish from the bottom of the piece. Also, if you don't elevate the piece high enough, it'll stick to your newspaper and create a huge mess to clean up afterwards. A neat trick is to put a layer of vinyl electrical tape on the backside, which allows easy removable of the drips (which harden just like the rest of the finish). If you do not do this, I found a large floor sander works to remove the unwanted drips, but it's rather a pain-in-der-****.

4) Make sure the piece is as level as possible. Since the finish is self leveling, it tends to form a small ridge on the lowest points around the edges. If your piece is not sitting level, it will have these ridges on only one side, making the piece look lopsided.

5) Pour quickly, but be careful to not run out of finish before all the wood is coated. Use a cheap small plastic bristle brush to pick spread the finish to areas that are difficult to coat by pouring, such as the edges. I say "cheap" because you'll have to toss out the brush when you are done with it.

6) After around 30 minutes, very small bubbles will appear (this is to be expected). To eliminate them, gently blow through a soda straw towards the bubbles. They pop quickly! Apparently, it is not the air doing the popping here, but the CO2 of your breath.

7) Wear something on your head like a sweatband or handkerchief to catch potential sweat drops from your forehead. There is nothing more frustrating than a drop of sweat falling on your beautiful piece. It causes a mess. I know, it happened to me! I was able to blow the water off with a straw, but it had a permanent depression where the drop fell.

8) Do the process in as dust free an environment as possible. But even then, get a couple of large plastic trash bags or light gauge plastic tarpaulin and make an elevated "tent" to cover your piece to protect from dust, hairs and pet fur. Once dust lights on it, it is there forever. I used several large Pellegrino Water bottles to elevate the plastic above the work.

9) Lastly, don't touch for at least 1.5 days. It cures fully in about 78 hours, but can be handled after around 36. I touched it at about 20 hours and was surprised that fingerprints made and indentation in the finish, with a perfect mark preserved for eternity!

10) If you don't want to hassle with this process, I am available to do it for you for a fee. Sorry for the plug, but I could use the work! hehehe

I hope you find this information useful. I have always been unhappy with the fact that the wood grain shows through most finishes and doesn't have that Jaguar glossy wood look. This stuff looks like the finish on fine furniture with 20 to 30 coats of varnish applied and being hand rubbed and polished! It is truly fantastic looking!!!

Here are the results on the wood moulding on the rear door of the passenger compartment of my Daimler Majestic Major Limousine (DR-450);

 

Impressive results and a good alternative to expensive professional treatment.

We've recently had a thread going in XK8/XKR about seeing images in the dash veneer. They'll have a field day when they see the devil or a dog in your door capping!

Graham

 

Thanks for all that help Cybersib.
My 58 Mk8 has some wood finish that is still very good. I would like to know the factory process and products that were used back then. I may be able to avoid a major strip back and lightly sand and refinish with the correct product type.
The top dash has been stripped and I am about to start afresh there with a modern system as you describe.
Hope someone can help please.

 

I use 2 part clear epoxies do to various wood finishings. Like was said, mix, mix some more. When you think you have it mixed, go a few more minutes. I tend to use East coast Resin. The other trick that I will say is to have a heat gun available. This can be a hair dryer, a heat gun, or a propane/butane torch (I personally use a butane torch). You pour the resin on the item, let it set for a few minutes and if you were too violent with the mixing (introduced air into the resin, which you should not do), the air bubble will form on the surface, leaving a pitted surface when it dries. If you take your heat source and pass it near the resin, the heat will burst the air bubbles and allow the resin to go glass smooth. I was looking to do a river table with my resin. I will do it shortly, but need to find some 8 foot pieces of rough cut wood that still had the bark on the wood.

Another trick that you can atleast do with the East Coast Resin is you can let it dry for about 48 hours (gets rock hard) and if you have any imperfections, you can use some 600 grit sandpaper to smooth things out, then use some 1200 grit sand paper, followed finally up with some rubbing compound. That will restore the resin to a mirror finish and remove the blemishes. Big thing is that you have to make sure that the resin is fully cured. You start sanding too soon and well, it turns into a big ole mess.