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Re-veneering the dash:
The process starts with the dash removal, straight forward enough but time consuming and physically challenging to a guy well over the hill like myself. Lots of tubs and plastic bags and a labeling machine have hopefully kept all the wires and bits well organized.
Once removed I had two options, first to re-use the original plywood, the second to use the old one as a template make a new one, a fairly easy job with a router and flush trimming bit but I chose the first option. The original ply was very good quality, about 10 mm thick and 5 plies, not easily available and my wife had volunteered to strip off the old varnish and veneer. That was another time consuming job but straight forward.
Now for the veneer itself. The original on the Plus 2 was a fairly striking burl, traditionally English Walnut or European Walnut, not easy to come by particularly in the size needed for a dashboard. I’m not sure Colin was very concerned about the species either so I suspect what came on the cars was quite variable.
The options for replacement veneer types are quite numerous. There are plain or raw wood veneers, paper backed veneers, foil backed veneers, peel and stick veneers, “flexible” veneers and even plastic veneers.
I chose the raw wood veneer since I am as much interested in the process as the result even though I knew this would be the most difficult. What I wound up with after quite a bit of searching was two book-matched pieces of “American Walnut”. It’s quite figured but somewhat of a stretch to call it “burl” but it was available and reasonable. I got 2 bookmarked pieces for about $30. Much prefer to risk $30 than $200 on this experiment. Here is the raw veneer (two identical pieces.) In hindsight, a backed veneer would have eliminated most of the problems I encountered.
The press, the vacuum bag, and the iron.
The process of veneering varies with the materials and with my raw wood veneer there are several. My two book-matched pieces left quite a bit of scrap so I outlined the dash on the wood and used pieces of that scrap to experiment with.
The problem is that raw wood veneer is unstable. It is about .025 thick with grain in all directions.
http://www.richardjonesfurniture.com/Articles/flatten-veneer/flatten-veneer.html
After you get it flat, it will stay that was as long as the temperature and humidity stay constant, which of course is unlikely. In addition, the glue that I used, Titebond cold press veneer glue, is water based and it literally curled my veneer into a cylinder when I applied it to one side. I did have somewhat better results if I applied the glue only to the dash and not the veneer and allowed it to tack before I laid the veneer on it, but I could not get enough pressure on it to make it perfectly flay that way either.
The press that I built just would not exert enough pressure to flatten it. A vacuum press might do it but I didn’t have that option.
I will mention that I did not try to use the traditional method of using heated hide glue and a veneer hammer.
Here’s what I finally used and how I did it, with the household iron:
Since the Iron on method requires glue on both the veneer and the substrate, the first obstacle is how to get glue on the veneer without curling it into a cylinder. The solution was to wet the face side with a fine water spray then flipping it over with a couple of blocks on it to hold it roughly in place and then spreading the glue. With both sides moist it finally starts to behave, not flat by any means but manageable. I then let the glue that I spread on the veneer and substrate (dash) set overnight.
The next day, I placed the veneer in position on the dash, covered it with craft paper, and ironed it on with the iron set at the hottest setting.
The heat, along with the pressure I could exert with my arm set the glue and flattened the veneer at the same time.
Issues:
I did not glue the book match joint before hand which had been suggested. I did not see how a butt joint at 1/40th of an inch could be reliable and thought that the tape I had on it would hold as well but it did not. The lack of dimensional stability also warped that seam line and made it visible. Also note the edges of a defect in the veneer (faint red arrow) that I oriented so most of it would be in the ash tray cutout. Those pretty much went away with the lacquer, the wide seam is still noticeable.
My plan was to leave the glove bx door out at this point and carefully cut out the laminate that laid over the opening and then lay it on the cover separately. This actually worked but I was not careful enough in clamping around the aperture and the knife tore the veneer a bit along on edge. This was my inattention to that detail rather than a fault in the process.
Here it is after 6 or seven coats of lacquer. I think it will do.
Tom
The process starts with the dash removal, straight forward enough but time consuming and physically challenging to a guy well over the hill like myself. Lots of tubs and plastic bags and a labeling machine have hopefully kept all the wires and bits well organized.
Once removed I had two options, first to re-use the original plywood, the second to use the old one as a template make a new one, a fairly easy job with a router and flush trimming bit but I chose the first option. The original ply was very good quality, about 10 mm thick and 5 plies, not easily available and my wife had volunteered to strip off the old varnish and veneer. That was another time consuming job but straight forward.
Now for the veneer itself. The original on the Plus 2 was a fairly striking burl, traditionally English Walnut or European Walnut, not easy to come by particularly in the size needed for a dashboard. I’m not sure Colin was very concerned about the species either so I suspect what came on the cars was quite variable.
The options for replacement veneer types are quite numerous. There are plain or raw wood veneers, paper backed veneers, foil backed veneers, peel and stick veneers, “flexible” veneers and even plastic veneers.
I chose the raw wood veneer since I am as much interested in the process as the result even though I knew this would be the most difficult. What I wound up with after quite a bit of searching was two book-matched pieces of “American Walnut”. It’s quite figured but somewhat of a stretch to call it “burl” but it was available and reasonable. I got 2 bookmarked pieces for about $30. Much prefer to risk $30 than $200 on this experiment. Here is the raw veneer (two identical pieces.) In hindsight, a backed veneer would have eliminated most of the problems I encountered.
The press, the vacuum bag, and the iron.
The process of veneering varies with the materials and with my raw wood veneer there are several. My two book-matched pieces left quite a bit of scrap so I outlined the dash on the wood and used pieces of that scrap to experiment with.
The problem is that raw wood veneer is unstable. It is about .025 thick with grain in all directions.
http://www.richardjonesfurniture.com/Articles/flatten-veneer/flatten-veneer.html
After you get it flat, it will stay that was as long as the temperature and humidity stay constant, which of course is unlikely. In addition, the glue that I used, Titebond cold press veneer glue, is water based and it literally curled my veneer into a cylinder when I applied it to one side. I did have somewhat better results if I applied the glue only to the dash and not the veneer and allowed it to tack before I laid the veneer on it, but I could not get enough pressure on it to make it perfectly flay that way either.
The press that I built just would not exert enough pressure to flatten it. A vacuum press might do it but I didn’t have that option.
I will mention that I did not try to use the traditional method of using heated hide glue and a veneer hammer.
Here’s what I finally used and how I did it, with the household iron:
Since the Iron on method requires glue on both the veneer and the substrate, the first obstacle is how to get glue on the veneer without curling it into a cylinder. The solution was to wet the face side with a fine water spray then flipping it over with a couple of blocks on it to hold it roughly in place and then spreading the glue. With both sides moist it finally starts to behave, not flat by any means but manageable. I then let the glue that I spread on the veneer and substrate (dash) set overnight.
The next day, I placed the veneer in position on the dash, covered it with craft paper, and ironed it on with the iron set at the hottest setting.
The heat, along with the pressure I could exert with my arm set the glue and flattened the veneer at the same time.
Issues:
I did not glue the book match joint before hand which had been suggested. I did not see how a butt joint at 1/40th of an inch could be reliable and thought that the tape I had on it would hold as well but it did not. The lack of dimensional stability also warped that seam line and made it visible. Also note the edges of a defect in the veneer (faint red arrow) that I oriented so most of it would be in the ash tray cutout. Those pretty much went away with the lacquer, the wide seam is still noticeable.
My plan was to leave the glove bx door out at this point and carefully cut out the laminate that laid over the opening and then lay it on the cover separately. This actually worked but I was not careful enough in clamping around the aperture and the knife tore the veneer a bit along on edge. This was my inattention to that detail rather than a fault in the process.
Here it is after 6 or seven coats of lacquer. I think it will do.
Tom