Refinishing Wood Spoke Wheels

[Gene__C]

Again I ask the experts. I have had the paint stripped off of my rims and the hub and rim part of the wood spoke wheels. Used soda blast technique.

Now I am ready to strip the finish off of the wood. The soda blast technician tried to do it with soda, but felt he might damage the wood and stopped.

The question now is, what is the best method for removing the finish from the wood. These are '27 Oldsmobile original wheels. Wood is in excellent condition. Need to know what to do as well as what NOT TO DO.

After they have been stripped I plan to use marine varnish in three or four layers to put on the new finish. Any comments or warnings about that?

There is a black paint stencil on each spoke. I believe that I can put some varnish on the wood, then the black paint, then more varnish. Any comments or warnings?

I have had a lot of help so far and things art going well, so thanks to those who have helped and "Please" to those who can offer help now. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Gene

[1918Buick]

I have successfully used zip strip-followed by a wash of denatured alcohol- then water- then a light sanding. Your varnish choice-and method- is good. Some people use broken plate glass (carefully) as scrapers. Good Luck. Lou

[Mark Shaw]

My first wood spoke prep job (1929 Buick) involved lots of scraping, a little sanding and lots and lots of picking paint out of cracks with dental tools. It was a long painstaking process, but it did work well to retain as much original wood as possible.

My last wood spoke prep (1915 Buick) started out to be the same. I masked all the spokes prior to having the felloes sand blasted (along with the rims & body). My blaster guy (a real experienced blaster 70+ years old) asked me why I didn't want him to blast the wood spokes. I explained my concerns about loosing too much wood etc. He simply asked if the wood was in good condition. I said I think so. He said the best way to find bad wood is to gently blast the spokes with greensand (he uses greensand for everything). Then he gave me a little demnstration on one spoke.

If the wood is good, like mine was, the spokes come out looking great with no added effort except to pick out any remaining particles that may stay wedged in cracks. After blasting, I primed and painted all the metal and finished the wood with several coats of spar varnish. The varnish darkens the wood to a nice rich color without any stain. My spokes look great with much less time and labor than my first job!