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Hi again, I'm getting through the jobs on my Daimler now and one of the last jobs that needs attention is the dash & walnut trim by the gearstick. Can this be saved or will I need to replace the whole lot please ?

I removed all the wood from my Daimler 2 1/2 litre V8, stripped off all the veneer and re-did it will yacht varnish. it took many coats and a lot of rubbing down beetween coats. So it can be done!!

Yes it is possible to revive and worth doing.

Probably a job for long winter evenings.

now is the time if your going to save it, as it seems like its only the lacquer that has split and got milky at the moment

you may also find that when removed the wood shows some signs of fading, but thats a colour choice you can make

when i installed my new wood trim to my XJS i coated the exposed edges of the panels with some matt black paint, this seals the edge ands helps prevent moisture getting in and sending things milky again, jaguar did a similar thing with brown paint , though not as thoroughly as i have done

when analysed, the areas that go usually milky have blown air against them , or get wet in some way ?


BB

Just be careful when sanding down; if it is a solid wood base it is not too much of a problem but if it is on a ply base then you can easily go through to the next layer which will have a different grain and just won't look right.

paint stripper the old lacquer off, then a very light sand with wire wool

repair any cracks in the actual wood with some colour matched wood filler, and very gently flatten with some 500 grit ,

then when you think its ready use some ' pre paint panel wipe ' to clean the wood and give a dusting of clear lacquer to seal the surface

then apply light coats allowing to dry in between every three or four coats flatten back and panel wipe again before applying two final coats

will come up like glass if you take your time

BB

A tip that one of my friends showed me was to keep the shavings/sandings/sawdust and mix it with a bit of clear Danish oil to fill in the cracks; that way you will have an exact colour match.
It takes a bit of practise though to get the right constitution and you will have to wipe with white spirit after it is dry to give a clean base for the varnish.

I have had the wood in a couple of my cars re-lacquered professionally. Some of it was in very poor condition with missing or peeling veneer, cracked laquer etc etc. it's amazing what these guys can do and the results are absolutely beautiful. It's also not as expensive as you think it may be. I use a guy called Nick Martin who operates in Spalding and has always done an excellent job. So far he's done my Celebration and XKR and I've seen his work in several other cars and always been impressed.
Regards
David