My Wood Thread - A Comprehensive Restoration Thread

[bandittwo2]

day one, acquisition of wood. painted Vavona trim kit. step one, remove paint via lacquer. tomorrow, sanding.

[mpower5266]

I will be watching this, I want to do all of mine piano lacquer or go with an alum look paint.

[IcemanBHE]

Rub a dub dub.

[tekazgtr1984]

I'd like to do custom wood in my 7... Something a bit brighter than the nussbaum.

[Kiyoskia]

^ Vavona?

[Edwin NL]

I'll take the wood on the left, the left doesn't look good

[tekazgtr1984]

^ Vavona?

Yes, or something even lighter, more maple-ish. Or just do something custom.

[7BREYTON]

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1474262

[bandittwo2]

step 2, removing the rest of the paint and begining removal of clear coat on defective parts.

[SEVEN40iL]

in for progress

[tekazgtr1984]

+1

I want to restore my wood as well.

[Edwin NL]

You on a roll buddy! keep up the good work!

[7BREYTON]

More pics pls. I love this thread.

[bandittwo2]

moar fotos will come soon.

[Xephius]

I am picking up some Titanium/Silver/Grey stain and 400+ grit hook & loop disks for the sanders on the way home from picking up the kid. I will post pics after I let the machine loose on the wood.

As I said on the phone Tyler, I have been thinking about using silver dust rubbed into the wood. Lexus is doing it, and it looks nice. But I can just as easily get real Diamond dust to sprinkle in. I am going to pick some silver and Diamond dust up and do some tests. If the sanding works ok, I will need some more salvage wood to test on. Tomorrow I can pickup some inlay and see how that goes down.

[tommyb2b]

I am picking up some Titanium/Silver/Grey stain and 400+ grit hook & loop disks for the sanders on the way home from picking up the kid. I will post pics after I let the machine loose on the wood.

As I said on the phone Tyler, I have been thinking about using silver dust rubbed into the wood. Lexus is doing it, and it looks nice. But I can just as easily get real Diamond dust to sprinkle in. I am going to pick some silver and Diamond dust up and do some tests. If the sanding works ok, I will need some more salvage wood to test on. Tomorrow I can pickup some inlay and see how that goes down.

That sounds pretty cool! Post pics when your done.

[Xephius]

Sanding = Bad

The sander takes the clearcoat down fast, but also vaporizes the wood as soon as it hits is. The wood is so thin that it just doesn't withstand any sanding other than by hand with high grit.

I think that the chemical method of removal is about the only option to get the clear off and try and salvage the existing wood.

I did go down to the local Woodcrafter to see what they said about recovering the aluminum with new veneer. They all had long blank stares contemplating the compound curves.
After some talking, poking and ogling at the beautiful veneer burls and inlays that I can do, I read about thermo-melt glue used on edge bond veneer trim. It might be a solution. I am going to do some research and testing over the next couple days.

[darkstarmedia]

Sanding = Bad

The sander takes the clearcoat down fast, but also vaporizes the wood as soon as it hits is. The wood is so thin that it just doesn't withstand any sanding other than by hand with high grit.

I think that the chemical method of removal is about the only option to get the clear off and try and salvage the existing wood.

I did go down to the local Woodcrafter to see what they said about recovering the aluminum with new veneer. They all had long blank stares contemplating the compound curves.
After some talking, poking and ogling at the beautiful veneer burls and inlays that I can do, I read about thermo-melt glue used on edge bond veneer trim. It might be a solution. I am going to do some research and testing over the next couple days.

I am thinking that if you make a backer that is the shape of the aluminum and soak the veneer in water to soften it and use the right epoxy with a vacuum press and some heat it should come out nice....

Richard

EDT: is been a long time since I worked with wood (unfortunately) tho....

EDT2: accually... soaking in 99.999% isopropyl alcohol may be better as it will evaporate quicker but still provide moisture to soften the wood... not sure how the wood or the bag might react tho....

[bandittwo2]

ok, i stopped by the woodworking store in town and picked up some industrial strength stripper and im finally making some progress. couple sprays and the clear is virtually gone, next step is a light sanding with 800 wet or dry and then a wipe of red stain and re-clear.

[m3studio]

I would go with Piano Black. Thats the best. Looks sporty and luxurious

[cazal740i]

Holy wood vaporized Batman.
That is some work..Im confused on what u r trying to do? Are you making your own wood color and then clear coating it? or simply removing the clear/wood to get a polished alloy look?

[Xephius]

Tyler and I have been talking about wood refinishing for a while now, he just dove into the deep end. And not wanting to be left along, I dove in too.

Well we both want different but similar things. Tyler is seeing if he can clean up the OEM wood with stripper and sanding to get a more neutral bright wood. I thought I would be able to strip the stock wood with a orbital sander to redye the OEM wood. But as it turns out, the clear coat and stain penetrates too deep into the wood to be totally mechanically removed. With luck, Tyler will get enough of the stain and clear off with chemicals to refinish the stock wood with a different stain and re-clear coat it.

I am going a slightly different direction. I now hope to be able to remove the wood all together from the aluminum and reapply a new veneer with a custom inlay. Once I get the application of the veneer down on the compound curves, the inlay will be easy. I have found some very good articles taking on the veneer process and being a decent wood worker, I have the shop to tackle this project. My first hope is to use contact glue, steam and relief cuts to get the veneer shaped to the form. If that doesn't work out, I will be using hot water and a vacuum to pre-shape the wood, then glue it up in a custom built sleeve. Clearly, I hope the first method works because I don't want to partially dismantlement my vacuum tank to build the PVC sleeve.

As luck has it, I will have some free time tomorrow to play with the wood, so provided I can strip the wood easily I can take a stab at it.

But straight sanding just won't do it. I have a very controlled touch with a sander and even with the finer sand paper the wood is just too thin to use mechanized removal. I have high hopes that the chemical method will pull the wood down to a usable state too.

[bandittwo2]

ok, FINALLY ALL THE CLEAR IS GONE! took a full day of chemical stripping and scrpaing. got the plastic switch inserts out, everything is ready for an acetone wipedown and surface sanding, then re-clear.

[tekazgtr1984]

I can't wait to see the final products from both Tyler and John.

[bandittwo2]

its a walnut race