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New "veneer" for the Series 3 XJ6...my most recent lockdown project
The original wood veneer in the '86 XJ6 was so bad, parts of the veneer were actually falling off in large pieces. It's really the only problem the car had. I wanted to re-veneer it in burlwood but I planned on hand-choosing the veneer from a local shop, which is now obviously closed to the public due to the lockdown. So, with time on my hands, I went a different route...I hand-painted the original pieces instead. I figured since I spent years doing illustrations during my career in advertising I should be able to handle this.
It took half a day to take the dash apart, carefully labeling everything in the process. Then another half day removing all the old veneer and cleaning up the surfaces. About another half day fixing imperfections in the surfaces, filling, priming, sanding, then adding a sold base color.
Actually painting the woodgrain was surprisingly quick, maybe two hours total for all the pieces. I used an old-school process I found through a google search.
The color is less red than the photos show and overall I'm very pleased with the results. I'll let the pieces dry at least a week before spraying a spar varnish finish of at least four coats
pretty smart ! After all, the "wood" dash is only a plank of wood with a 1/64" inch thick veneer over it. All wood dashes were done like that. Nowadays it's plastic.
Wow that really does look great. Painted wood grain on metal was used on a lot of American cars in the 1940s before all the garnish mouldings were chrome or stainless. Could you post a few links to the procedure? Thanks.
I had a colleague once, Pawel, with the same last name as you.....
You don't have any computer engineers who live in Germany in your family by any chance?
Thanks for the comments, guys! I now have to let it dry at least a week before I can top coat it with spar urethane and I'm already getting impatient waiting to get it back in the car.
No relatives in Germany, nor named Pawel, at least that I know of.
Here's the link to the tutorial I used for the process. I followed the basic techniques shown but, being an artist myself, I did my own interpretation for the grain patterns, making the grain a bit more detailed.
Wow, that is cool. The video was very clear and professionally done. And the great thing about doing this is that down the road when you have more time/money you can go back and put veneer over it if you want to. In the 40s some luxury cars had painted on wood grain on the interior trim. So I guess you could do this using a metal curved dashboard as well. Thanks for posting this so others down the road can find it.
Thanks! The video made it look so simple I just had to give it a go. Turns out it really is just as simple as it looks. And your point about being able to veneer it if I didn't like it at any point was part of my thought process and made the decision to paint it easy.
I watch a lot of You tube nowadays. SIP!! Johnathan Winans did something like that on a project. used a faded dash board in a 32 roadster project. it built from pure junk. Painted on a base coat. then used bunched plastic bag to daub on the "burl". Not bad!!! The dash came from a derelict 41 Chevrolet.
Faux paint was and still may be a use in interior walls in custom homes. Base plus a daub in other colors.
I made a cabinet once. Painted it white. over ridden with brown, .Then wiped to leave streaks of brown on white. . Not bad!!
Thanks, Carl. Back in the '80s I used a similar process to paint a wall in my first house to look like marble. After a few friends saw it, some asked me to do walls in there houses and I then ended up doing a couple jobs for a local house painter before deciding I had better things to do with my spare time. This dash was much more fun.
pretty smart ! After all, the "wood" dash is only a plank of wood with a 1/64" inch thick veneer over it. All wood dashes were done like that. Nowadays it's plastic.
To clarify: In modern Jaguars everything that looks like wood IS real wood veneer, not plastic. The substrate, though, as you say, is not a plank of wood (actually, it was plywood) partly for reasons of weight and partly because of the curved surfaces in the modern car dashes. So yes, Jaguar uses plastic as a substrate and in some cases, metal. No matter, the wood in a Jaguar is always beautifully finished.
And this painted burl is simply amazing! The OP has revived an old art. In the 30's and 40's cars built in North America often had painted "wood" dashes and door trim. Most of the time it was a decent imitation, occasionally not. But this really looks excellent.
05-13-2020, 05:02 PM
New "veneer" for the Series 3 XJ6...my most recent lockdown project
