Hi all -

Most classic Jaguar cars have quite a bit of traditionally veneered wood, English walnut I think, and in many cases, it just hasn't survived well. I've scoured the internet for years looking for good wood examples, and they are few and far between - its actually somewhat uncommon even to find a good set of blanks (the base wood that provides the structure), usually you can cobble together a set if needed, but not necessarily from the same car, nor at the same time, nor in the same condition. Interior wood can be fully professionally restored of course, but my investigation suggests its basically a $5,000+ proposition.....gulp..... So I wondered what was possible in terms of re-veneering myself, having no prior experience, no special tools, and variable talent where wood-craft is concerned. SO...I took a piece of trim that was well beyond usable in terms of its veneer quality, but had good underlying structure, and gave it a shot. I bought a "box of English Walnut veneer samples", just bare wood and likely not the best grade, then armed myself with glue I had in the garage and an Exacto knife..... Here is how it went.....

The Start - Here is the "patient" This is the passenger-side interior windshield (windscreen) trim from a Jaguar Mk2, and as you can see, it had seen better days.




The next step was to get the old veneer off. Had the veneer been in good shape, I'd just have used some solvent remover to get rid of the old top coat and get back to the base veneer, sanded it, stain and re-coat with Urethane, but in this case the veneer was damaged, detached, chipped and badly discolored - it had to go. I used a thin-bladed putty knife to remove it, in as few parts as possible. I've also seen veneer removed by steam or water bath - but I'm not sure how that impacts the base wood. Fortunately, in this case it wasn't necessary. I also sanded some areas and used a sharp knife. Then I restored the base wood with some light sanding.





Next, it was time to get some veneer on, and this is really where the lessons started. My approach was to try use the old veneer as a pattern, and give myself a 1/16th inch margin to then trim to fit. This was a mistake that fortunately didn't really harm anything. What I found was that A) Cutting the veneer is not as precise as I expected - I found it difficult to maintain my neat margin. The veneer is prone to cracking and chipping as well - perhaps this wouldn't happen with paper-backed veneer, but my sample box was the cheap stuff - just the wood, and it was pretty brittle. B) I also learned that the old veneer may be a bad guide - it may have shrunk, twisted, expanded, etc, such that even if you get a pattern and shape, it may not actually lay down the way you expect. Pretty quickly, I switched to much larger margins that, (phew), saved the day - cracks and chips ended up (mostly) in the extra margins and with more veneer to work with, I had more flexibility in positioning it on the base wood. LESSON: Cut wide, general pattern rather than trying to get the exact shape first time. You can see below how ragged the edges look, but better ragged and too big, than too small.




I used ....spray glue......yep that's right, craft glue from a can that I had rolling around in the garage. I knew there were multiple glues for veneer, but shockingly, my garage was fresh out of all of them. What I did have was a can of heavy-duty contact adhesive - the kind where you spray both pieces, wait a minute, then press together, and this stuff tends to hold extremely well - I had it for carpets and underlay. I would not recommend using it for veneering though - it worked, but its not the cleanest or most uniform product and it sets up so fast (basically instantly) that you get perhaps one or two tries to get it right - with veneer, it just can't handle being peeled back off. Advantages though were that it didn't saturate the wood or bleed through, its quick and because it sets up quickly, I didn't have to clamp anything for 14 days and hope the humidity was right for the glue ;-) I used a hard rubber roller (I used that for putting on sound deadening) to then apply pressure to the veneer and roll it a few times to ensure it was all stuck down. If I do this again, I'll try using the PSA -backed veneer.

Next step was the trim - basically getting the veneer as close to final shape as possible with the knife. I used an Exacto knife - typical craft / model knife like a scalpel, and this was another lesson - USE A NEW BLADE. My knife was new and the blade was "fresh" but I had used it on some plastic, a few boxes, opened up some cardboard, etc. It was still very sharp, but not new, and that was a mistake. As I mentioned, the veneer was prone to chip, and the blade though sharp, was not always good enough to slice before the veneer chipped. In same cases, this created an unsolvable issue - chips into the veneer beyond my ability to trim or sand them out. The lesson here I think is three fold 1) New blade, every time. 2) sneak up on the trim, don't try take too much at once 3) Use better veneer - I'm not sure if my "box of veneer" is truly representative of how a higher quality piece would respond to cutting.




The next step was to sand the veneer into final shape. This went pretty well and as with anything like this - go slow....you can always remove more, but sticking it back on can be a challenge.




When trimming, I tried to create a "shoulder" basically a sort of 45-degree (or there about) so that the base wood and veneer blended together, as opposed to the veneer sitting on the basswood like a viable "layer" - hope that makes sense. You also need to sand the veneer. Do not skip this one. Even though it looks flat, and feels flat, its not. When you lay down your clear gloss coat, the levels will show (ask me how I figured that out). I ended up sanding all the gloss coat back off, just trying to eliminate the surface imperfections, so save yourself a step and sand it first. In my second sanding, I used various grits to where when I was done, the veneer had a gloss all of its own- just remember the veneer is THIN.




The next steps were lesson after lesson. I am not good at paint, finish, color sanding, etc, and it shows. I first used Danish Oil for the stain, but it came out way too dark. Danish oil is awesome, and I used it on original Jaguar veneer with great success, but on this veneer, it became very, very dark. Fortunately I messed up the sanding and ended up sanding so much that I basically got the veneer back to its native color. I have ordered different danish oil pigments and I plan to do a test on those, but "Dark Walnut" was really dark - perhaps you'd like it, but I found that it hid too much of the grain. I tried other things I had laying around, but I decided the natural tone of the veneer looked best under the urethane. I also plan to try tinted urethane as well, which I've also used to better match woods before. I really wanted more red tones, but if I were making a whole set, I think I'd be happy enough. I also learned that you really do need to pay attention to flash time ( I found 5 - 8 minutes between coats worked best in 60 - 65 degrees) and distance from the piece...too close and the orange peel is horrid, and you risk a run or sag, to far and it looks dry. I probably spent 50 minutes on the top coat, most of that time spent waiting for the next coat. The results however were pretty good on my second attempt ( I sanded too much chasing orange peel the first time, and ended up going through to the veneer). Here are the results:






Now, you can tell I still have orange peel to deal with, and I think I'll approach that with a had buffing compound, rather than sandpaper. This, however, is much better than the first attempt to apply the topcoat.

Finally, here are some side-by-sides of my re-veneer experiment, and the sister part from the other side of the windshield. Not the same part, but close enough in condition for a before / after look.






So there it is, my first go at re-veneering. I am absolutely not presenting this as a show-winning how-to, or even that I did things right, or best, or anything like that. I do think though that this demonstrates what can be done with no experience, limited tools, and stuff laying around in the garage.....so imagine what you could do with a sharper knife, better veneer and the right glue (or PSA backed veneer). I think this is something anyone could take a crack at, and provided you manage your expectations and shoot more for "presentable" and less "Concourse" you'll be happy with the results and get to impress people with your old-world craftsmanship....just don't point out the chips or orange peel.....or the fact that your box of Walnut didn't have pieces long enough to do the whole part, so you had to make a goofy join.

 

This place sells a product to soften the veneer so it's more workable.
When it's wet, it can be layered with unprinted news print on a flat surface with weight on it to flatten it out _ it makes it much easier to work with.
The newsprint absorbs moisture while it's flattened.
You can get remnants of newsprints from local newspapers _ using printed newspaper is not advisable, the ink can stain the veneer.

There are heat activated glues that can be used as well from the same place, but a vacuum press is the way to go.
I find a very sharp chisel ground at a steep angle works better then an X-acto blade.
The chisel is easier to control, an X-axto blade has a tendency to bend and deflect and can cause one to gouge the veneer or the substrate.

https://www.veneersupplies.com/

 

Nice job considering you did not use the vacuum bag method. I admire you for taking on reveneering.

My veneer fortunately survived but we had no experience at doing this. Just read up on the subject & got on with the job. (This cell phone camera suffers red push)

 

That looks quite excellent! I am jealous of your ability to get the clear-coat so smooth. I lack both skill and patience in that regard, and despite years of trying, I never seem to get an better, lol. I have thought about trying a wipe-on / brush-on top coat, rather than the spray can.

I achieved pretty decent results restoring the wood on my '65, where like yourself, the underlying veneer itself was in good shape.

 

Looks very nice:

 

Hi Treozen,
I see you are in WA in live in Qld where did you get the veneer, was it from an Australian Supplier?
David Bruce.

 

Props to you Treozen! It's good to see someone just jump in and do it. The veneer on my Mark VII is thin as paper and was curling and peeling off in sheets. I scraped it all off, it looked like some kind of skin disease. I've only tried to save the veneer on the instrument panel. I stained the exposed base wood dark brown and polished it with some Howard's wood finish. Maybe someday I'll get the car up and running and can spruce up the interior.

 

I’m usually in the x150 forum but found this an interesting read for restorers. Excellent work and techniques by you guys!
regarding the “blank” news paper, here in the US, we can get it at self move stores ( Uhaul locally) where it is used to wrap breakable items prior to packing in boxes. About $20 US for 200 large sheets. Maybe easier to find with the decline in printed media.
Also professional vacuum bag machines for Veneer woodworkers may be fairly expensive. I found plastic clothes off-season storage bags with a port to connect your household vacuum to work similarly well. Lots of sizes available including extra large which should accommodate most work piece sizes on a car.

 

Hi, no I got it from a website: https://www.veneersupplies.com/

I have no affiliation and only ordered the one sample box, so I can't speak to how well they operate or the quality of their product - but the sample box shipped quickly enough and included some nice book-matched sheets.


I was facing the same thing. All the wood on my '61 needs redone, the dash actually has screws through it on both sides (may be factory?) and the door caps are completely gone. I've gathered up a few spares over the years and figured it was worth a shot. The part I started with wasn't usable anyway , so, not much risk.