Can Woodgrain finish be patched?

[cxgvd]

I have a project this year to redo the woodgrain metal parts of my 1939 Buick.  Most everything is good with the base coat, no rust problems, most of the other woodgrain pattern is faded in places and all the clearcoat is dull.  The mahogany has very dark look.  Short of refinishing every part, can the woodgrain pattern be filled in here and there, blended with the existing and all then clearcoated?  I do not expect to be invited to Pebble Beach, just a nice place to sit as the world goes by.

 

Regards, Gary

 

[JFranklin]

Find a good artist!

[Tom Boehm]

I have not attempted this but I think it is worth a try. I think you should clean and clearcoat the surface first because the clearcoat will make the old worn hazy colors more intense. It will be more accurate to match the colors after the clear coat. After touch up you can clear coat again to protect the touch up spots. I think Rustoleum or Krylon spray can clear enamel or lacquer would work fine for this. Do a test to make certain the spray can clear coat does not lift the existing paint  or the touch up. I think oil base/ alkyd paint would be ok for the touch up. You could intermix various premixed colors of brush on Rustoleum or use universal tint colors to adjust pre mixed colors to match. Do they still sell little bottles of oil base paint for models at a hobby shop? Or you could go to a paint store and have them help you match colors in an oil base product. Because it is a factory applied fake wood finish there are probably only two woodtone colors to match. Go to an art supply store and get the smallest artist brush they have. To make the most inconspicuous touch ups carefully apply paint only to the actual scratch and nothing more. Also don't put paint on thicker than you have to so as not to cause a visible build up on the scratch. Let the touchup paint dry completely so the final clearcoat does not wrinkle it. I would let it dry a week to be sure. 

[hook]

I used to repair furniture for a local mover and a couple new furniture stores. I was trained by a producer of the equipment and materials. No I don't still do it but, you might check with your local furniture stores to see if they have someone that patches/repairs their new stuff that gets dinged in shipping. They might be able to do just what you want. 

[Steve9]

You could also experiment with artist oil paint smearing it in to fill the scratches. I used burnt umber color and a lot of messing around with terry cloth, cotton balls to fill in the cracks. The best part is if you don’t like it  just wipe it off and try again. Finish it off with a clear coat for protection.

Edited November 20, 2021 by Steve9 (see edit history)

[Mark Shaw]

Gary,

     Buick used wood grain appliques on their dash and garnish moldings.  It would be very difficult to match a patch with paint.  I think the best you could do is to minimize the scratches.  

[kingrudy]

I am surprised that someone has not come up with a wrap, or applique for the 39, 40, 41 Buicks. The "engine turned" dash that Doug Seybold does is an applique and looks great. Why couldn't you do something similar to the window garnish and dash?

[1939_Buick]

8 hours ago, kingrudy said:

I am surprised that someone has not come up with a wrap, or applique for the 39, 40, 41 Buicks. The "engine turned" dash that Doug Seybold does is an applique and looks great. Why couldn't you do something similar to the window garnish and dash?

Over the years have looked the '39 wood graining. Several different patterns on the different metal.

Have an image of the small section (~100mm long) on the window garnish molding. A person in NZ made some transfers

 

 

Hydrographics (printing) may work. But a big effort to get to something of good quality

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_transfer_printing

 

Quote

 

Usage

The water transfer printing process is extensively used to decorate items that range from entire all-terrain vehicles and car dashboards, to small items like bike helmets or other automotive trim. Films can be applied to all types of substrates including plastic, fiberglass, wood, ceramics, and metal. For the most part, if the item can be dipped in water and can be painted using traditional techniques then the hydrographic printing process can be used.[3]

 

 

Edited November 21, 2021 by 1939_Buick (see edit history)

[kingrudy]

52 minutes ago, 1939_Buick said:

Over the years have looked the '39 wood graining. Several different patterns on the different metal.

Have an image of the small section (~100mm long) on the window garnish molding. A person in NZ made some transfers

 

 

Hydrographics (printing) may work. But a big effort to get to something of good quality

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_transfer_printing

 

 

Thank you for the response. I suppose that to make it cost effective, it would require a large demand to offset the set up cost. That having been said, the cost to have someone airbrush the wood grain and then clear coat must be very expensive. When I took my radio grille off exposing what the wood grain from the factory looked like. I decided that I would not try to duplicate it. The wood grain was a greenish color.

Edited November 21, 2021 by kingrudy (see edit history)

[Doctor's Pontiac]

On 11/19/2021 at 12:07 PM, cxgvd said:

I have a project this year to redo the woodgrain metal parts of my 1939 Buick.  Most everything is good with the base coat, no rust problems, most of the other woodgrain pattern is faded in places and all the clearcoat is dull.  The mahogany has very dark look.  Short of refinishing every part, can the woodgrain pattern be filled in here and there, blended with the existing and all then clearcoated?  I do not expect to be invited to Pebble Beach, just a nice place to sit as the world goes by.

 

Regards, Gary

 

 

I am currently working on the wood grain on my 41 Oldsmobile and came across your post. Sorry is perhaps a bit late but this is my experience in case is helpful for you. Yes, you can touch up. Your wood grain pattern is very similar to the one I just did. The thick darker lines appear to correspond to the pattern called Sapele. I got all my supplies to do the job from Grain-it-Technologies in Florida. Their web page has a lot of samples and videos that are very helpful and you should review to get the right materials for your job. First you need to know what the basecoat color is and then need to know what color of ink is added on top of it. This company produces a kit with rollers to do the entire wood grain but you can use a fine brush by hand to replicate the pattern for the touch ups.

 

In my case, the  base color is called Driftwood3 and is the same in entire molding. The ink however is different and that gives the different lighter and darker brownish colors. I did the lighter color using a roller and printed the wood grain new because it was all gone, there was not much left to touch up on the lighter part of the molding. The darker brown color however, is still in very fair shape and I did the touch up by hand. The trick was to find the correct ink color which you will have to experiment mixing some of the different inks (they are all oil-based, easy to work with). 

 

 

First picture shows the original molding. See how the darker bottom area is fair but lost the color, both on the darker lines themselves and especially between them. Once I tested the correct ink color I used a tiny brush and applied it by hand to fill up the lines and the space between them

 

 

 

 

This is a close up of the fading colors on the darker brown area and you see that color is all gone from the lighter area except in that lower corner.

 

 

 

 

This is the way it looks after the touch up. I did this yesterday and still have to add a toner (enhances the grain) and then clear coat to protect it. The colors of both light and dark brown are matching my other windows originals pretty well. One thing I have to do better is to make sure the ink is thinner so it will not be above the level of the rest of the molding. I believe the clearcoat will cover well and make it very even and shiny. Hope it helps. Manuel