The dash bow close up. The finish on this piece was very strange... at a quick glance in the car, the wood looked bare. If you look carefully you can see light spots in the wood... perhaps damage in the veneer from a previous attempt at refinishing?
Wood out of the car
Once the wood was removed from the car, I started stripping the old finish off. Take a look at the pictures below to see what the wood looked like before and after stripping. Click on each one for a larger view. Sorry about the poor color accuracy in the photos... I forgot the florescent light filter!
The stripper used was for basic shellac and varnishes. With a little bit of soaking and 0000 steel wool, the old finish came off very easily. I did some pieces two or three times to balance out the color.
The dash bow close up. The finish on this piece was very strange... at a quick
glance in the car, the wood looked bare. If you look carefully you can see light
spots in the wood... perhaps damage in the veneer from a previous attempt at
refinishing?
The top and bottom windsheild surrounds untouched... a dramatic difference in
finish and color
The sides pieces from around the windshield after initial stripping.
The main dash piece
The glove box door... note the cracking in the finish and the darker color near
the top.