The steering wheel on the 1996 6 Litre that I'm recommissioning has deteriorated since the car was laid up. Most of the lacquer / finish on the wood parts of the wheel had split, cracked and fallen off. I've now removed the remaining splinters of lacquer, fine-sanded the wood and am now looking to refinish it. I know it won't be perfect, but I want to improve the look and protect the wood in some way. I'm not going to remove the wheel so it needs to be something I can do in situ with the appropriate masking.

I thought I remember reading somewhere that Jaguar originally used some form of polyurethane finish, but maybe I've got that wrong?

Anyone got any ideas on what's the best way for me to approach this? Carefully brush paint thin coats of varnish or lacquer? Spray some coats of lacquer? Would clear lacquer aerosol do the job? Would that bond to the wood ok?

Thoughts appreciated!

Tks

Paul

 

I've used multi coats of spray on clear polyurethane for walnut truck bed wood. It holds up well to sun. You can use gloss, semi-gloss or matte, depending on your tastes. The pic shows a matte finish. Its sprayed on fairly thick, perhaps 12 coats or so
Doug

 

Tks for the input. I picked off all the flaking lacquer, sanded down the wood, masked up the wheel and used a Jenolite clear multi-purpose lacquer. Ten thin coats with wet and dry rub down after 5 coats. Seemed to come out really well!

Paul