Door cap veneers

[GTiJohn]

From my experience, even the best original cars have matching door caps and a matching dash set , but the caps and dash set don't necessarily match each other in shade and grain, so I take the view it is acceptable to treat the caps and dash sets as separate entities...

I do have a sack full of various used door caps, though few, if any, are matched.

Thanks for that - I'll give it a go and see how matched the four come out. If they don't I might need to rummage through your stock to find any better matches

[GTiJohn]

3 years on and I still haven't done anything significant with these

Looking at them again, all 4 have different grain and colour on the top (horizontal) surface, on the right of this image, to the side (vertical).



Is this how they should be or a result of aging? I can't imagine, knowing the history of the car, that they've been restored previously.

If I do re-varnish them now, will they retain this shade difference ?

Should I stain them first to be the same colour overall ?

[rvfrc45]

Hi all, I've been reading the posts with much interest.
Many years ago (25 at least) while at work I stripped the varnish of my door trims. (this set was from a 76 sprint)
During this process it was clear the veneer was damaged so decided to sand it off.
I think the veneer was only on the side face (not top) and the ends painted brown
Anyway once the door Capping's were nice and smooth I decided
to try to stain the wood a similar colour to the dash. As soon as I put any stain on it went to dark.
At the time there was a French Polisher repairing a table in the building so I asked him.
He said you need to bleach the wood first then you have half a chance to get to you colour.
I bought the wood bleach and did this and the result was not to bad. I'm now restoring the car again and
feel perhaps I should take it to the professionals to get it all done but certainly admire anyone for having a go.
Last thing did I see on face book someone using self adhesive veneer in an attempt to the job.
Cheers gary.
PS Graham are you still on the IOW or have I got the wrong person.

[GTiJohn]

I've bitten the bullet and got the 120 wet and dry out...

This is the first sand of the vertical section of the part on the right; the left is untouched



It's made a big difference to the look but I was a bit over-zealous with the sanding in places, hence the need for a bit of restaining. With a bit of feathering, this should be OK, I think.

[GTiJohn]

No going back now!





L->R:

Untouched

Sanded on all surfaces

Sanded on vertical face and oiled to see colour

Sanded on all surfaces

So, it looks as if the horizontal surface and the chamfer are dark stained before varnishing. My local local hardware store was able to supply this Walnut wood dye, which sounds right, to go on before the satin Yacht varnish.




Might have to look for a matching OSR capping if the different graining remains too obvious.

I'm actually quite enjoying doing this

[GTiJohn]

2 coats of stain on the top surface and bevel edge so far, with rubbing down with 400 grit in between, gets us here



It looks lighter in the centre due to the light, it's not that obvious on the part itself

[new to this]

I like the way you have been restoring your door capping a
I went a different way,took the veneers off and started again

[GTiJohn]

I like the way you have been restoring your door capping a
I went a different way,took the veneers off and started again

Looking good !

Did you re-veneer this yourself?

[GTiJohn]

Coming on nicely...



Just have to match them up to this, which is 800miles away

[new to this]

I like the way you have been restoring your door capping a
I went a different way,took the veneers off and started again

Looking good !

Did you re-veneer this yourself?

Yes i did veneer it myself

Dave

[GTiJohn]

I like the way you have been restoring your door capping a
I went a different way,took the veneers off and started again

Looking good !

Did you re-veneer this yourself?

Yes i did veneer it myself

Dave

Impressive!

[GTiJohn]

Ready for varnishing




First coat on, they are still wet



Next coat tomorrow

[GTiJohn]

Rubbed down with fine wire wool after the first coat, as it looked mainly matt with a few 'satiny patches', then recoated

[Uncletravellingmatt]

I have the shallower non sprint door caps and redid mine, got the varnish off, fine sanded so nice and smooth then after discussing with a local wood worker I used Halfords finest clear lacquer!!! Apparently he uses it on lots of his work.
I was dubious and thought I should use yacht varnish but thought I’ll try one and see how it looks, came out really well, time will tell how it lasts

[GTiJohn]

I have the shallower non sprint door caps and redid mine, got the varnish off, fine sanded so nice and smooth then after discussing with a local wood worker I used Halfords finest clear lacquer!!! Apparently he uses it on lots of his work.
I was dubious and thought I should use yacht varnish but thought I’ll try one and see how it looks, came out really well, time will tell how it lasts

Very nice

Having looked at several Dolomites at the NEC in Nov, I realise that there are now several finishes and how difficult it is to match the (faded?) dash, unless you do the whole lot