refinishing wood trim- stripping & ebonizing

[attack eagle]

Ok, I like how the wood breaks up the plainness of the panels.
I didn't like how every single trim piece was cracked, so they needed to be fully stripped & refinished.

while researching, I remembered how much I liked RVAe34s black painted trim... but I still wanted woodgrain for a little warmth.



First off I am 4 hours of stripping into the front (dash) pieces of wood, and the clear still isn;t off. that stuff is ridiculously thick and very very hard.

So far I tried Klean strip, and then made a run to the store for some aircraft stripper, but all they had was low odor formula ( which is aparently weaker )

So my suggestion is to get an electric sander and 36 grit and get most of it off before you start stripping, and then use a gallon of regular aircraft stripper.
EDIT: alternatively just soak them overnight in a pan of stripper, that finally did the job for me.

I picked up a new oil change pan at walmart for <$3 to use so stripper wouldn't get everywhere.




Ebonizing:

stuff 3-6 steelwool pads into a gallon of vinegar. (note you don;t need this much at all, but it was cheap and easy to work with)
Let the vinegar oxidize the steel wool for several days (been a week for me)
DO not seal the container for several days, or it will either blow up, or the stuff will explode all over you when you next open it.

When you are ready to ebonize the wood take 6-8 tabags and boilthem in a small saucepot of water. You won;t be drinking this, and you want it as strong as you can get it.

After stripping the clear, the wood will look pale as saltine crackers. The wood used for the trim is not high in tannins (unlike oak and several other hardwoods) so this tea will substitute.

Wipe the tea into the wood ( i used a couple of soaked paper napkins) and allow it to dry several times. once you have a little color back into the wood you have enough.

The wipe the vinegar/iron solution onto the wood. After a few seconds you will see the wood darkening to a grey/black. If it isn't dark enough after it dries wipe another coat on.

I did 3 coats of tea, and two coats of solution on the edge of one of the trim pieces and it got to a dark charcoal black, but the grain and burl is still visible.
This stain can be sanded out with a little effort so be gentle when finish sanding before applying clear or spar poly.

No pictures yet because I am still stripping, but I was very pleased with the results on the edge that I managed to get stripped already.


Anyway, jsut wanted to FYI you all on what I was up to. had to pull the driver's door panel as the window jumped off the mechanism and needed to be put back on, so I will pull all of the wood and work on it off and on. As soon as I get one piece finished stripping, I will take pictures and post em up for everyone's viewing pleasure.

[sfgearhead]

Sounds like a fun project. I had a similar issue getting the OEM finish off an alfa romeo wood steering wheel. I swear it was like plastic. I think I finally resorted to sanding most of it off as well.

Can't wait to see the pics, and I'm glad my wood is in good shape!

[PCP JR]

So the stripper worked on your wood?

Waiting for pics of the stripper.

Keep pics of 'your wood' to yourself...

[attack eagle]

It is saturday night...

[Mr Project]

Looking forward to pics...this should look really nice, I love the idea.

[Mr 535i]

Subscribed!

[attack eagle]

Pictures will be up in about 30 minutes or so.
Just finished wetsanding the panel before staining, and am on the TEA portion of staining. Just have to keep stopping to take pictures for you guys.

[attack eagle]

PICTURES:
wetsanded after stripping


dry after stripping


after Tea


15 seconds after wiping the 'rusty vinegar mix' on



NOTE: if you wanted GREY wood like the silver birdseye maple, mix the rusty vinegar 30/70 or 50/50 with water. Just make sure you mix enough to do all parts so they are all matching. maybe a capfulof solution is all it takes per piece.

wet before wetsanding.


after wetsanding

[Rozboz]

looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

bit of a noob question... i have normal black door trims with no wood on them. will the wood trim fit onto them (and the dash) or do you need door panels that came with it as standard?

thanks

[Travis R]

Can't wait to see the finished product. I'm thinking about doing this too.

[attack eagle]

after 1/2 an hour the slight brownish tint in the above shots is gone. they are completely black n grey. the camera is still picking it up a bit, but to the eye it is gone.

[attack eagle]

Got the two around the column stripped and stained, 3 that were almost stripped fully but needed a touch up, and I pulled the rest of the door panels off and pulled the wood and have it soaking overnight in stripper, with the oil pan wrapped in plastic so it won't dry out.

MORE TIPS:

After I strip em, I wash em and stick em in the oven at 250-275. It dries em safely and most of the time if there is still clear on em it will crack it further making the next strip more effective.

I bought one of the 320 grit sanding sponges from 3M... highly recommended. A good wet sand after stripping, and a good wet sand after ebonizing will bring out the grain and pattern again. Stripper will NOT remove the ebonizing later if you follow my mix. neither will anything less than serious aggressive sanding.

If you just want it darker, rub tea on it again after the rusty vinegar. You'll get a deeper darker black.


If you don;t want ANY brown overtones, or don;t want to play Mr Chemist, India ink is an alternate way to ebonize.

If you want to pale it out, there are people who do that as well. Look up 'bleaching wood" or check in your local home Depot etc.

[Analog]

It looks like your trim caught on fire.

Should look good on a black interior.

[Mr Project]

Looks GREAT. With a nice thick clear on there it will be really classy.

[specialk819]

Looking good AE.

I had been tossing around the idea of darkening the wood trim this past week so it was quite funny to see this thread.

Any reason this a better way to go than just normal black or charcoal wood stain from home depot? And what are you using to clear them back? The original stuff looks like its a 1/4 inch thick.

[DTMkid90]

nice it looks sweet

[CoachMan]

extended leather... gotta love it

[hutch555]

Attack, As long as we are talking about door trim, I wanted to know if I can replace my interior silver trim that is along the windows on the inside of the car. Mine is all scratched and dull. Can I buy this from a parts company or do I have to use the dealer? Also, is it easy to replace. Thanks, from a fellow touring owner. Hutch

[arakele]

looks nice so far... I have a bad feeling I will be doing something similar to my wood pieces now..

[tonyroc14]

god, your door panels are amazing, and i really want to try this, i like the look of it.

[attack eagle]

no progress yet. Worked on evad's e34 today doing the amp bypass.

After a close look at his panels I am disappointed and pleased to announce that I have the NLA BMW wood add-on kit for Non-wood panels.
disappointed that they are not the normal OEM wood panels, somewhat pleased that they are that much rarer than normal.

Hutch: I wet-sanded the aluminum (it is absolutely 100% aluminum) trim across the doortop with 320 to give it a brushed look, far less 'chrome-y' looking.

[Binjammin]

After a close look at his panels I am disappointed and pleased to announce that I have the NLA BMW wood add-on kit for Non-wood panels.

Buh?

Can you take pics of that? I'd like to see how it all attaches.

[sfgearhead]

Attack, As long as we are talking about door trim, I wanted to know if I can replace my interior silver trim that is along the windows on the inside of the car. Mine is all scratched and dull. Can I buy this from a parts company or do I have to use the dealer? Also, is it easy to replace. Thanks, from a fellow touring owner. Hutch

I've never replaced mine, but once you have the door panel off it should pry up and off. Mine started to pop off when I was working on my door recently.

As for where to get it I'd start with your dealer, or try some of the usual online suspects.

[attack eagle]

same as wood panels I imagine, holes thru the panels, with a black flathead machine thread screw and locking star washer thru the backside

I've never replaced mine, but once you have the door panel off it should pry up and off. Mine started to pop off when I was working on my door recently.

As for where to get it I'd start with your dealer, or try some of the usual online suspects.

ditto, and it does exactly.

I'd just sand em out if I were you. those 3m sponge sanding blocks are my new love. you could clear em after if you wanted.

UPDATE: I JSUT TOOK THE LAST 7 PIECES OUT OFTHE STRIPPER!
they've been soaking for 24 hours and they are clean... this is the way to go for refinishing.

[evad]

Woooooo Hoooooooo for Attack Eagle hooking me up with the amp bypass and h/u install!!!