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restoring wood grain metal window frames


deburt65

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My window frames on my 1928 Studebaker are made of metal, but have a wood grain look. Some of the wood grain has worn off and the base color is showing. Has anyone restored this type of metal before, to original wood grain appearance. Thanks for your help

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There are craftsmen doing this service as a business. And there are hobbyists that have done it themselves with varying degrees of success. So the answer to your question depends on a number of things like what you are trying to achieve, what your budget is and how much you want to say you did it yourself.

First thing I'd do regardless of how you address the graining is to get some good photographs of the original. There are lots of different styles of wood graining and you'll want a record of what it should be to guide either yourself or whoever you hire.

For my "driver" car, I did the "burled wood grain" myself with what I consider reasonable success. As they say YMMV. :)

1933 Plymouth Woodgraining

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Guest martylum

Hi-I'm on my 4th wood graining project using Grain It Technologies kit. The kit is about $300 and includes a graining board, graining ink, background colors,and application tools with good instructions.

In this process you strip yours moldings to bare metal,prime, and repaint the background color in basecoat, then apply the graining, then clearcoat. It really does apply a realistic looking grain to the moldings.

I believe they have a nice online site.

Martin Lum

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I've seen and know of several people that have used the Grain-it company from Lakeland, Florida and have seen them in person at Hershey. If you have the time a patience I've seen some beautiful results from do it yourselfers. Most of the professional people charge an arm and a leg for doing this. I've seen prices from $1,500 to $2,500 for a dash and 5 window moldings. Ouch!

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Guest bofusmosby

It's just a shame that these kits can't be rented. I hate the idea of spending all that money for the kit, only to use it 1-2 times. If only the materials had to be purchesed, it'd be a lot easier to handle.

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It's just a shame that these kits can't be rented. I hate the idea of spending all that money for the kit, only to use it 1-2 times. If only the materials had to be purchesed, it'd be a lot easier to handle.

You could always get a group together prior to the purchase, go in on the kit together and all learn at the same time how to woodgrain stuff. Then you could have a skill to fall back on and help others do theirs. Or you could buy it and rent it out. Just a thought.

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Guest bofusmosby
You could always get a group together prior to the purchase, go in on the kit together and all learn at the same time how to woodgrain stuff. Then you could have a skill to fall back on and help others do theirs. Or you could buy it and rent it out. Just a thought.

Good idea, but this economy is making it more and more difficult to have anything left over for ANYTHING. Everything is going up EXCEPT my wages.:eek:

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Woodgraining is more labor intensive than you might think. First you have to bead blast and primer the metal followed by sanding just as if you were applying a perfect paint job. Next step is the application by spraying of the base coat. Next is the application of the grain, which takes skill and practice. Many times it takes more that one attempt to get it right. Finally the pieces are clear coated, wet sanded and buffed. Doing a generic simulated woodgrain is easy. Duplicating a factory wood grain is not, especially on convoluted pieces such as a dash.

I've seen and know of several people that have used the Grain-it company from Lakeland, Florida and have seen them in person at Hershey. If you have the time a patience I've seen some beautiful results from do it yourselfers. Most of the professional people charge an arm and a leg for doing this. I've seen prices from $1,500 to $2,500 for a dash and 5 window moldings. Ouch!
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Whatever happened to Dynoc for woodgraining? Is that still available?

The dynoc is still available but is quite a thick product. It would work something like when you see something wrapped in leather that never was originally and doesn't fit. I do have a local supplier for western Canada if you want dynoc but I think the kits are the way to go. I know one fellow that used a kit from Eastwood he said and it turned out beautifully. He's not that smart either so I think it would be within the scope of any reasonably talented person.

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Guest martylum

Here's a shot of new wood graining on a 35 Chevy project using a graining plate from Grain It Technologies. I like the final effect but to be honest it is not a duplicate of the original graining. I don't think any of the graining plates from Grain It Technologies would give a duplication of this particular car's original graining.

Sometimes you have to compromise on the final results.

Martin Lum

35 Chevy standard

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