HELP, Wood Wheels

[Dana J]

I'm working on my wood wheels that are in great shape but were painted. Anyone come up with a good way to strip? I am afraid a sand blaster would be too harsh. Any advice appreciated.

[nickelroadster]

Dana,

You absolutely don't want to use a sandblaster on wooden wheels! I am assuming that what you want to do is go back with the natural wood finish. What you want to do is use a chemical stripper and very lightly sand them at the end. Get some heavy duty aluminum foil to use as a working surface (stripping is very, very messy). Lay the wheel on the foil and use a heavy bodied stripper such as Kleanstrip Sprayable stripper cover first one side and then the other. You can use either the little spray bottle that comes with it or a small paint brush (I usually use both). After 10 to 20 minutes use a fiveway scraper (the little curved surface on these works well on the spokes) to work the paint off. You may need to apply more stripper if the paint is not soft enough. After you have gotten most of it off you want to change to a liquid stripper and use steel wool, rubber gloves and clean rags. Yes it is very time consuming and tedious. Keep working it over with clean rags and fresh liquid stripper paying special attention to all the little nooks and crannys. When they are very clean, then give them a light sanding starting with 80 grit and finishing with 150 grit. There is a big difference on how much work this is depending on the type of paint that was used. The hickory used on wooden wheels looks very nice with a natural finish and does not need to be stained. They can be finished with a varnish or even better with an automotive clear.

[oldiron]

Dana; you are very correct in deciding not to blast, it would be a nightmare. Scraping and hand sanding will work just fine. I've done many wheels this way with great satisfaction. regards; oldiron

[Guest Noel Adams]

Hello Dana, Cleaning Spokes would have to be close to the worst job on the car, We had a lot of success soaking our essex wheels in the thinners dregs we collected from the local panel shops. It seemed to work well dissolving the old paint leaving no ill effects to the timber which repainted successfully. It would I guess depend on the paint but worked for us with minimal effort and cheap.

Have Fun....Noel

[Dana J]

Thanks for the advice. Will continue on as described. This is the worst part of the car so far, but maybe the most rewarding. I can't believe the workmanship that went into these wheels originally. Thanks again!

[Guest cardinal905]

I will be chastized for being lazy I guess, but I am in the process of restoring 4 wheels off my Maxwell. I DID use my blast cabinet on an 80 lb setting with glass beads. I could not believe it but it stripped all the old paint and got the old filler out of the cracks (wheels must have been restored long ago) I looked very close while blasting and did not linger---it did not take much wood and with a lot of Kwik-poly the are getting there.