Here's my latest progress:

Before:


After stripping with heat gun:


After applying a stain:


After applying first coat of poly. Brought out the wood nicely, but obviously more coats needed to get that glass look:


I'm going to use 6 coats of helmsman high gloss poly to thicken it up and allow for wetsanding and waxing. Two more coats to go. Most annoying part has been waiting for dry times.



What did you use for clear coat?

 

What color did you use for stain here ifly?

 

Dark Walnut by miniwax. Oil Based.

 

I'm getting readt to put a 5th coat on. Here's what it's looking like after 4:


Seeing my reflection in this one:

 

I gave it one guy who is making restoration, but as i know if you remove the old finish you will never get the same result again. So he used some technology how to fill the cracks with new varnish and then polished them. Now looks like new.

 

Finished the poly coats. 6 coats. Here's some pics before wet sanding and buffing. The wet sanding should remove any "waves."


The knob was originally a very light oak color. Good thing about the knob is it's wood is thicker than the veneer panels. I would strip this first for practice before the veneers.

 

Here's after wet sanding:







Here's after buffing:















Here were my steps if anyone is interested:

1. Stripped old finish with heat gun

2. Lightly sanded with 220 grit

3. Applied miniwax dark walnut oil based stain (. Original trim came out of a car with lighter interior. It didn't match my sdz trim the same way)

4. Applied 6 coats of miniwax helmsman clear gloss polyurethane

5. Wet sanded with 1000, 1500, and 2000 grit

6. Applied meguiars swirl remover and ultimate compound.

7. Applied and buffed with meguiars cleaner wax

 

A job well done! Kudos to you!!

 

Dragging up an old post here. I'm in the process of doing the same to my xjr am part way threw stripping off the old finish. Curious how the urethane has held up over time?

 

iflytb9 was last on the forums over three years ago on 12-13-2017 but could still be taking email alerts from the forum.

Graham

 

How thick is the stock clear coat? I'm vaguely tempted to try carbon wrapping a set