Success in getting the finish off the wood trim. - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Biodiesel300TD · #1 01-28-2006, 09:31 PM

Maybe this should be in the detailing forum but I put it here anyway.
It took me about 2 hours to get all the finish off these two peices of wood trim. I am amazed at how different the bare wood looks. Now I believe that is really is Zerba wood.

I used a sharp chisel and carefully chipped the finish away. I caught a few pieces of wood, so I did have a little tear out. I bet when I finish them you won't even be able to tell. I am sure if I was more carefull and took more time I could have done it flawlessly. I gave them a light sanding. There is more material there than people have led me to believe. Now I will attempt to refinish them. This is the wood worker in me.

Diesel Giant · #2 01-28-2006, 09:33 PM

How will you refinish them? What kind of substance is really on them? I have some flaking off on some wood I have and its really thick.

Biodiesel300TD · #3 01-28-2006, 09:55 PM

I haven't figured out what I will refinish them with. I may hit up the local Woodcraft store and see if they have any suggestions. I may try Home Depot for the same reason. I will report back when I figure something out.

I put my calipers on several of the pieces of the finish. They were just under 1mm think. Pretty thick when you think about putting finish on a piece of wood.

locry · #4 01-28-2006, 10:01 PM

Try HELMSMAN, its a spray on thing, i remember reading a complete step by step somewhere, i'll post the URL once i find it.

locry · #5 01-28-2006, 10:09 PM

found it!!!

http://server1.serverway.net/~boostd/Wood/

Biodiesel300TD · #6 01-28-2006, 10:24 PM

Good. Good. I will try it.

Ra_ · #7 01-28-2006, 11:41 PM

I'll bet it would look pretty sharp with just a wax.

pmckechnie · #8 01-29-2006, 12:01 PM

Could you please explain how you used a chisel to remove the finish? Did you get under it as an edge and pop is off or some other procedure? I removed the finish from the center console in my 500SEL using paint remover and it took almost a week of coating, waiting, steel wool, coating, waiting, steel wool, over and over again. I hesitate to do my 300D but it needs it also. By the way, I spent about another week putting spar varnish on the other one with very light sanding between coats. It turned out great (at least in my eyes) but 2 weeks is out of the question.
Thanks for any tips

Biodiesel300TD · #9 01-29-2006, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmckechnie

Could you please explain how you used a chisel to remove the finish? Did you get under it as an edge and pop is off or some other procedure? I removed the finish from the center console in my 500SEL using paint remover and it took almost a week of coating, waiting, steel wool, coating, waiting, steel wool, over and over again. I hesitate to do my 300D but it needs it also. By the way, I spent about another week putting spar varnish on the other one with very light sanding between coats. It turned out great (at least in my eyes) but 2 weeks is out of the question.
Thanks for any tips

First make sure you have a nice sharp chisel. I used a dull one at first, because I didn't want to ruin one of my good woodworking chisel, it didn't work very well. The easiet way is to find a spot where the finish is already chipped off. If you don't have a spot where it is chipped off already. Here is what I did. I used the side of the chisel as a scrapper, and I scrapped down all the edges to get the finish off, so you are down to the wood. Then you can carefully work the chisel in on the edge gently popping the finish off. One thing I figured out is you want the crisp chipped edge as you continue chipping the finish off. If you start cutting into the finish and getting tappered edges it won't chip off very well. Once you have and area big enough cleared I layed the chisel flat on the wood to keep myself from digging into the wood. Take small chips off. I found when I got into taking bigger piece off I would take wood too. And go slow, even when the finish if chipping off very easy. I found I would cut into the wood then too.

Good luck,
Andrew

imdavid28 · #10 01-29-2006, 03:50 PM

So how come the coating can't be sanded off? Is it too thick? Has anyone tryed using venire from home depot instead of the existing wood?

1983/300CD · #11 01-29-2006, 04:22 PM

The original zebrano is too thin to be able to stop in time before it sands through.

Biodiesel300TD · #12 01-29-2006, 04:42 PM

I think it would take forever to hand sand all that finish off. You would have to hand sand it to keep from sanding through the vaneer.

I was thinking about trying to find some zebra wood vaneer to try. Haven't looked into it yet. It may make the trim too think, causing the switches to sit below the surface instead of flush. I am going to look into in though.