Hey everyone - just curious if anyone knows a perfect match stain for the interior wood on the 1972 XJ6's. I have included a picture just in case they had different variations. Thanks in advance, you guys are awesome!

 

It looks a little like beech wood or pear wood. Remember, you'll have to remove all the current top-coat (finish) before applying new stain. At that point, you can apply most any shade of stain you want and then put a finish back on.

Dave

 

Do you think the photo is the original finish?

 

The finish in your picture doesn't have the traditional shine that I've seen on nearly every other Jag dash. I'd say it is not the original finish and the wood appearance is so bland that it might not be original wood either.

Dave

 

At 50 years old, it's hard to tell if that's a well worn Walnut dash with a yellowed finish, or if someone has had a go at it in the past. These old Cellulose finishes tend to craze and look a bit "pickled" with age, especially in hotter/sunnier climates. I'd consider pulling the dash wood and stripping it to see if the original veneer is hiding under that finish--or just re-veneer all to match in some nice wood of your choice. For veneer reference, www.veneersupplies.com has a lot of good images, but remember they will change colour/often darken somewhat depending on type of finish used. Couple of before & after S1's here https://britishautowood.com/jaguar-xj6%2Fxj12%2Fxjc

 

It looks like the fascia on my car after I got it. A coat of high carnauba wax livened it up a lot! So much that plans to strip and refinnish were tabled.

Listen to LT1. His day time job is as awood worker.

 

I bought used wood pieces from David at everydayxj.com and had him ship them to Saul at British Auto Wood (posted above). He did a magnificent job refinishing mine in burled walnut and shipped them to me. So there was no wait time, when they arrived from Saul I swapped the new pieces for the old and off I went. My woodwork is now as good or better than the day it left the factory.

 

Before Refinishing

After Refinishing

I refinished mine myself. Once stripped, I used a reddish dye first to set the background color and then a dark stain to bring out the grain. I also used a water based varnish with uv protection that won't yellow.

I don't think you really need to worry about exactly matching the color (unless you plan do restore it to concourse quality). If it looks nice, no-one is ever going to notice that it isn't exactly as it came from the factory. If you decide to strip it, and it is original, be very careful because the veneer is thin and you can scrub right through it.

I'm no expert, but I've always thought that there were 2 different trim packages. One with a straighter grain wood and one with the curly maple. Maybe this is just the "straight grain" trim?

 

I don’t have any close up shots, but I nabbed a vdp dash from eBay and sanded it down to get rid of old clear coat, then simply reapplied more, no stain used at all..

 

Great Topic, i am currently refinishing my 1971 Series 1 dash. I stripped to bare veneer, no stain, and am probably on coat 6 of Epifanes varnish and the color and grain looks good. Getting flat and close to dust free. Coat 7 this weekend. One curious item is the door panel wood is clearly mahogany vs. the burl veneer and appears a bit redder as mahogany naturally is. In the photos you can actually see the fade lines....I really did not want to bleach and stain.


s.

 

If you are asking me about
my wood fillets in doors, I didn’t touch them, got the door cards from eBay with wood already in them to replace the plain ones I had previously, never paid attention to what colour the wood was! Lol

 

I'm quite sure they were all Walnut Burl, with the more desirable quality veneers usually going into the Daimler and Vanden Plas V12 cars.

 

Looks very nice installed Curious as to your door wood though--custom pieces?

 

It's important the looks of stain is natural and shining. There have a few thing to maintin to get natural and shiny effect of your wood stain. Here’s what I know from my own experience:

 

I have a survivor that was destined for the crusher, and the wood is in need of restoring. Seeing how great results are being achieved, Ive decided to do a bit of a resto-mod once I start to work on the interior. A green wood stain is in order for a car that should not be in existence. Seeing that you have non-original wood, Id experiment and use stains to bring out the grain, since its very plain at the moment. Hence why you cant’t stand it