How does my wood trim restoration look? It was a lot easier than I thought! I used Red Mahogany stain and varnish to get the color right, but all woods are different and walnut looks good too. The last 2 coats were Varathane Clear Gloss for durability!

That looks a lot better than mine does.

I'd have probably sanded and layered some clear on there until it was as smooth as glass, but I suppose it isn't a requirement. It looks great. Did you do it yourself?

__________________
- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

Yeah! I removed the wood and lightly sanded it down after removing the cracked plastic stuff with paint stripper. Then I washed it down with warm water and put it out in the sun to dry. After sanding with an orbital sander at medium speed, I put the first layer of Red Mahogany stain and warnish on it and followed it with 2 coats of Varathane clear. I love and it looked so crappy for so long and now everyone who gets into my Benz for a ride with me compliments me on my wood dash! Zebrano is somewhat light red to begin with and this was a big improvement. The two pics look great too. I'm really pleased with how it came out and I never expected it could look this nice

I may need to do this for the trim on my '82 CD.

Probably best to remove all the pieces so they match after all are done.


AA
...

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

YES! I would not have done this unless I could refinish and restore ALL of them at once! Woodworking is an art (not bragging) and I've restored so many pieces of antique furniture that I know you need to refinish all at once to get uniform results.

Nice job!

I did mine too as I wait for my CV joints to be rebuilt and A/C parts to get to me... I had really badly damaged ones though from sittin in the sun so long, it even cracked all the metal trim around the handles from the wood warping.

I used fabric softner and water in a water bottle to get the wood backing straight again, then re-glued, sanded and refinished with some polyurethane varnish..
I think it looks good, holds the older look but not old and broken down... Yet not as bright and clean as yours. I think it is because you stripped yours and I did not, I just sanded well on the old varnish.. (just a little browner aged look)


Cheers!

__________________
Thank you for all the help guys!

"Old Gretchen" <--1983 300SD w126 cali. emissions (so it says on wdw sticker)
LIght metallic blue with dark blue interior. Odo stuck at 160,500 mi.

www.handydo.joolo.com

First, I think that looks REALLY good. Nice job.

Second, how did you get the old hard, sometimes split top clear layer off? Just paint stripper? What kind, and how long of a process was that?

Third, how do you upload 93kb photos? Man, the internal image size Nazi program won't let me fudge .1kb.......

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

1. Thanks. It turned out really well and I love how the woodgrain really shows itself off! 2 I went to ACE hardware and got 2 cans of aerosol paint and varnish remover and worked it into the finish all afternoon. This was a 2 day process! You will have to get a plastic stiff bristle brush and work the finish off with several applications of stripper. That's the hard part. lightly sand with 220/240 grit paper in an orbital sander stroking the wood along the grain, then dust off well and apply your varnish. I used Red Mahogany varnish and stain, but only on the first coat to bring out the grain and red tone of the Zebrano wood. The last 2 coats of varnish was with varathane clear gloss finish and viola! 3 I use Adobe Photoshop and down loaded the pictures from my digital camera after retouching to treduce glare and put those 2 pictures into my recent documents folder and started a new thread with pics put into the attachment manager on this website and added them to my thread! I have a 5 Mbps broadband connection and I think this makes a difference as to how much you can upload and in what quantities. The original finish on the wood is plastic bond so it will take you awhile to remove. Just remember to be patient and it will work out just fine.

would you consider a side job...

What would you charge to do another set... mine needs to be refinished.

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85 300CD Turbo "Das Polluter" 230K sold for $3,000

98 BMW 323is

Great job. I think you've just inspired me to get out and do mine. BTW, here's a good DIY article on the job:

http://www.diymbrepair.com/Wood/

Scott

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

I might consider doing yours. There is a link to an article on this subject at the next post. I would need to see your wood first to determine what it needs. Could you post pics back to this thread?

Yes, I read that one too. I chose Red Magongany stain and varnish because it will softly darken and several coats and this gives you a greater deal of control. Once that has been applied and thoroughly cured, you can apply Varathane Clear Gloss to your wood to seal it up and Varathane Clear Gloss will not darken it any further nearly as fast because it contains no pigments. However it will continue to darken so let it dry in between coats so you know what you are getting! I've done this many times on my antique furniture, my house is full of Duncan Phyfe and Chippendale from the turn of the century. the one thing you will need more than anything else is PATIENCE! Getting my wood to look like this took about 1 1/2 days from stsrt to finish, but here in Phoenix, our climate is very dry and your project may take even longer!

I should have mentioned that if you have access to a wood set that you can send me without having to remove yours that would work too!

My wood is currently being stripped as I write this. I've already applied 3 coats of stripper. Its coming off some pieces better than others. I'm sure I will doing this at least until tonight, maybe even tomorrow morning before its all removed. I can't wait to see the end results!

Scott

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

Great! Post those pics when you are done! I'd like to see them too. I'm sure everyone else will as well!