Burl console cover

You can send those in to Heritage Woodwork and they will refinish it for you. Why are you replacing it? Scratched up? Then use plastic polish to buff it up.

Thanks for the lead, the wood seems fine, but the finish is cracked in several places.

Canoli

Ahh... cracked... yep, very common. I even talked to Heritage about the wood... he said big thing is MB doesn't paint the back side... so moisture gets in there... But still he can't guarantee it won't crack again.

I've heard that Heritage might not be what it used to be, and that Madera Concepts might be better.

Why not just do a good sanding job on it and finish it off with 5 coats of a good marine grade varnish lightly sanding between coats ?

Peter

Problem is people don't understand how thin the veneer is... otherwise, it becomes plywood looking.

I have had a lot of experience with varnish on boats, and would follow your suggestion if I could depend on the finish standing up to exposure. Unfortunately, varnished wood exposed to sunlight for long periods (if you have a convertible the top is almost always down, even when it's cold) requires periodic attention and touch up.

Removing the console cover requires pulling the radio, AC, and gear shift, and is not the sort of job I would like to have to repeat every year or so.

Canoli

"Peter W Peternouschek" wrote in message news:uhQ8e.443$Zi.353@fed1read04...

Good point. However, one other step is necessary to prevent it from curling forward from end to end. After straightening, seal the back with epoxy. The reason you want to do this is to seal the back from water vapor. Epoxy is a

100% solid while varnish is not. Also, do not use polyester resin. It is not a 100% solid product. What you smell when applying polyester resin is the styrene gas escaping from the matrix. As this escapes it leave little hollow trails for vapor to penetrate. Epoxy prevents this from occurring. The 5 or 6 coats of marine varnish will work on the front but I would consider using a good polyurethane instead. Make sure you use the gloss type as no amount of polishing will bring a nice luster to the satin grade. Also, if I were to finish a trim strip myself I would strip the original finish and avoid any unnecessary sanding. I would then wipe the stripped wood trim with a moist rag and run a hair dryer over it. You can use a heat gun IF you are very careful not to burn the surface. The reason to do this is to raise the "hairs" of the wood for sanding. I'd use nothing more coarse than 600 grit for this, probably 800 to 1000. Repeat a couple of times. Then I would finish both the front and back with a good polyurethane such as Deft. Three or 4 coats I think would work fine. It's important to get enough material on so you don't polish through the finish, back to the wood surface. I have a little finish trim spray gun that I'd use for this work. Hummmmm.....maybe a profitable past time finishing MB wood trim.......hummmmmm. One more thing is to make sure the wood strip is straight before you begin work on the finish. If it's not you are going to be disappointed with the results. If you have a curl in the wood you can easily straighten it by laying it down on a damp (read wet) towel with the bowed side facing up. Place it in direct sunlight for several hours and draw the moisture out of the back side. This will pull it straight. Careful, you can actually bow it in the opposite direction if you leave it in sunlight too long.