I previously tried to refinish the wood on my ashtray, climate control, and shifter console. I used Epifanes Spar Varnish and I did a pretty good job of it doing several coats to build it up, but I didn't do a great job. It had ripples in the finish and what looked like little specs of stuff in it.

Any recommendations of where I can take these pieces to so they'll look nice?

1991 300d 220k

Madera Concepts in Goleta, CA (near Santa Barbara). They have a web site.

If all you do is coat it and walk away, you’ll get that. A proper finish job needs to be rubbed out for flatness and clarity, and to get rid of dust nibs!

There’s a person from CA on eBay that sells refinished wood, and will refinish pieces sent to them. Not cheap...

It seems to me that the console wood is the one that always needs help, no matter how great of shape the car and the dash is.

Not sure how poor of a match it would be to only refinish that.

__________________
Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)

What would you rub that out with to get a smooth finish and the little dust looking things out of there? (and it's not dust because I put the pieces in a big covered plastic container after I put the varnish on).

Possibly small air bubbles. There is a laquer out there that they add a hardener to just before you buy it. Shelf life is measured in weeks. I use it to spray kitchen cabinets with. You tell the retailer what gloss level or number you want.

You may know the product as it is used on wooden kitchen and dining room tables but only at about a number five gloss level out of ten. About the same as I use on those kitchen cabinets.

This stuff is tough and will not yellow with time. Or go gummy. The top gloss level might dry like glass and require no surface working. If you do not get any orange peel effect. It is the toughest finish out there today that can give you a very high gloss. You pretty much have to spray it.

In the day they just put many coats of straight laquer on and polished it out once it dried. It was famous for cracking and checking after a time and not really very durable. Normal laquer has no gloss until you work the dry surface. Spar varnish cannot reach the levels of surface gloss of the laquers.

There are extra gloss hardners for clear coats but clear coats are not that tough either.

https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/rubbing-great-finish-satin-gloss/

__________________
Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)

No need to mail it out. Look for a guy in your town that refinishes furniture and bring it to him. He'll be able to do it right for cheap.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

The guy on ebay sells the console/shifter surround for about $150, iirc. I wonder if Madera is any cheaper (or more expensive).

jbach36... I'm curious as to how you removed the old finish? I keep going back and forth between just coughing up the $$ to get it fixed or do it myself. I think I could refinish it fine if I thought removing the old finish was within my skillset.

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1991 300D 2.5 "Rocinante"
2002 Golf TDI "Teen Spirit"
--------------------
1984 300D
1966 Mustang I6 3sp
1985 Mazda RX-7 GSLSE
1982 Toyota Supra
1977 Datsun 280z
1971 Datsun 240z

Removal of the old finish carefully with paint strippers. It is best to wash the residue off with laquer thinner. Then assess what you have.

One set I did I did not allow enough time for it to dry out after. So after re finishing I got some wood substrate shrinkage. The old wood cells took up some moisture and expanded. Although being old wood it was not a lot. So you want to dry them down as far as practical before refinishing. Once you apply this finish moisture cannot get back in through it. Plus the other side is metal backed. On that set I did not use this product. It was on a 114 sedan I owned. I think it was that long ago.

The local furniture refinisher was not a bad ideal as otherwise this tends to be very expensive. At the same time you have to make sure that person has had experience at getting the high gloss results you want. If you do not intend to keep the car forever cheap laquer might be your best and cheapest solution. You want to decide if you want to sand the thin veneer or not. This disturbs any patina that has developed over the years.

I have actually been looking for things to keep some of the extended members of my family working. This is one thing I had thought about. Producing decent but not show winning results fairly economically. Simply because many people just do not have the equipment and experience needed to get decent results.

There is a tendency out there today to really overcharge unfortuantly. This applies to a lot of specialty services. The first problem is to apply the finish I think is right today. It is the only product my local furniture refinisher uses as a clear coat for many years now. That is how I came to know this product and where to access it. Picking the right looking stain when needed is more an art than anything else. In most cases because of fading over the years it will be needed as well.

I buy the product in gallons. It has to be made available in quart sizes because of the short shelf life. To do car wood. Activation is only allowed at the products retailers. Plus being a restricted product it is not available to all. It dries fast and you do not want to make misteaks as paint strippers do not work easily on it. Still to me this product is amazing. In comparison to any thing else I have seen or used.

If you should see a really glossy new piece of real wood veneer or solid wood furniture today. This is probably the product you are seeing. In most cases. Spray it on and you will be done. You can buff it but since I have not used the maximum gloss available.I have a feeling it will not be required.

What I do know is that kitchen cupboards I have done even years ago now. Still look like I finished them yesterday. The finish retains a fresh look. With no oxidation indicating a product color shift. Tough as nails as well so no wear evident.

By the time you buy everything needed you may have exceeded the cost of having a person like me do it. You are stuck with buying far too large a quantity of products. That you will have too much unused product left over when finished. .

Madera will probably charge more than $150 for W124 shifter/console surround. That's about what it was for the W201 part which is a bit smaller. BUT the work is excellent and the turnaround was quick.

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Watch him go!!! link

#dontdealwithkahlil

Removing the old finish is pretty easy. Paint stripper to soften it up and remove as much as possible of the disolved product. Then take fine steel wool and gentally scrub it down with laquer thinner to remove the remaining residue. The laquer thinner also dries out the wood quickly.

Rule number one I suppose besides wearing rubber gloves etc. Is stay away from using water or water based products on bare wood. You do not want to expand the old fossilized cells it the wood. The steel wool also tends to smooth the surface or polish it to some extent during the wash down.

It does not disturb the original patina of the wood either. Unless you get really aggressive with the steel wool.

Actually by aquiring another set of wood cheap or free. So many sets just get crushed. If you should mess up along the way probably is not as bad if you mess up somehow on the only set you have. There is little reason to mess up unless you do not follow steps.

Old style laquer is the easiest thing for paint strippers to dissolve. To me using the laquer thinner wash is mandatory. Do not sand the wood.

One might get away with a sandpaper in the 1500+ grit range but that's not going to do much as far as smoothing the wood.

I have read that steel wool can lodge in the wood grain and rust before you can get it sealed with stain or clear. I use scotchbrite but it's very abrasive and will remove wood like sandpaper. A light rubbing is all you can do without damage, very light. Don't ask how I know.

You can't level the wood. Don't try it. The veneer is too thin and delicate. The low grain must be filled with clear many times and sanded smooth to produce a high gloss sheen.

The stripping process is a bear. If the stripping compound dries you'll almost be starting over when you try to get it off. You want to catch that stripper when it's ready which requires patients and attention.

Recently a chemical called methylene chloride was deleted from the formula of most stripping products. Those products which our members used a few years back will not work the same now without that chemical.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

The biggest hurdle in getting the job done, is thinking about it.

Use the lowest harmful chemical you can to get the old stuff off, do whatever is recommended, and get the job done.

The hardest part is getting a nice finish once you apply the varnish. It will take a few coats but the last coat is the hardest.

I loved finishing. The two part clear I used required four days after a coat to dry enough to sand but it can be recoated after it dries to the touch. In 70ish temps that's about an hour and the pot life of the finish is 4 hrs.

I two coated it then sanded to level it a bit after four days then shot another two coats on it. I enjoyed the sanding because I could tell by touch that it was leveling fairly well even after only the first two coats.

I have a piece of zebrano 1/42nd inch coming to attempt to replace one piece of the wood's laminate. If this is successful I may start buying up pieces which have cracked wood and give laminating and finishing them a hobby. This is more my style than turning nuts and bolts.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

Strippers are not nearly as powerful as they were years ago. Laquer is not a hard finish to attack with even todays stuff. I really believe that the wash and scrub with the thinner has no real substitute.

Someone mentioned the steel wool leaving pieces behind to rust. I have heard this many times and places over the years. At one time people used water to try to clean up may have been the reason. That would start the steel rusting. Do not use water and you cannot really clean up with just more stripper.

The thinner washes all the residue off and out of the surface grain. Then dries out fast. So you are not promoting the steel to rust if any is trapped in there. Or perhaps stainless steel pads can be located.

If not doing this can make or break a job I am not certain. When the part looks pretty clean initially you can see the color of the thinner darken as it is removing all the remaining residue. The reality is you still can get some pieces to practice on and it will make you feel more comforatable.

In my generation many of us were technically scroungers at locating what we needed really cheap or free. It was an acquired art form. I still have the skill set but there just is not the surplus stuff around as much anymore.

I need a couple of hundred sheets of good used plywood soon. Or even surplus new. I will ask around but they have been getting far scarcer to find all the time. The railways used good plywood to block the doors to load grain in boxcars years ago. Then sold the plywood cheap or gave it away for the asking.

I am still up to getting some free or low cost wood veneered dash parts. I think it is all in how you approach doing it. Wreckers with brains will sell things cheap if they know otherwise it is just going to the crusher. Or you are fortunate to have people with cars that will never see the road again in your area.

If you ask the right way usually. You want some just to practice on. I know this probably sounds strange in todays world. Or you can get into a good conversation and leave your request till the end of it. This makes it harder for them to say no.