280SL Wood

[erickmarciano]

anyone have closeup phot of the wood in the 280sl? i want to fix the wood but can't find the right finish
thanks
Erick

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[mal]

Hope this photo will be of some help
regards
Malek
280SL 71
190SL 61

Download Attachment: Dash Wood.jpg
23.32 KB

[erickmarciano]

thanks but the link does not work

thanks
Erick

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[Douglas]

Here's a link to a page on 113 wood from Heritage Woodworks in NC. He's become the "go-see" guy for wood restoration among many Mercedes folks, including many on this site I'm sure:

http://www.heritagewoodworks.com/W113NewWood.htm

Keep in mind that most people re-finish the wood and make it way too glossy. It should be a very light satin finish that's almost matte.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #018260

[Shvegel]

Eric,
 I just tried this link and it worked.

 http://www.heritagewoodworks.com/W113NewWood.htm

 I refinished my wood last year and had excellent results with Minwax satin polyurethane in a spray can(Home Depot). It is an interior product but seems to be holding up well(my 280SL is not garaged) I sprayed about 7 coats and sanded between with 220 sandpaper. The sheen is perfect. It worked so well in fact that I put away my spray gun and use it on the Craftsman furniture that I build in my spare time.

[erickmarciano]

Shvegel  did you put any tint or just natural

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[gwuisman]

Eric,
I did the finish work last year. As the sun light had whitened the coulor of the wood I tinted it first whith magahony tint. Then three layers of glossy poliurethane coulorless paint to get a flat surface. On top of the glossy layers two layers of poliuurethane satin coulorless paint. This system of satin on glossy is used by the professional painters to get a perfect and durable result of satin painting. Between the layers you need to sand of course. I did this deliberately with already used 200 paper to get a smooth sanded surface. For the painting I used a type of floorpaint that works in a way that sunlight keeps the coulor fresh and darkness will gray the colour. So I have a good excuse to make sunny drives.
G.Wuisman
1970 280sl manual

[Joe]

Erick, I did my wood last year, and made a mistake. There were, and are, I think, more than one stain used on the wood. I blindly followed the advice of someone who suggested the use of mahogany stain, and found it was too close in color to the cognac on my dash. I should have used a darker stain, which would have provided a more attractive contrast. The wood is a visual point of interest on your car, and you want it to be noticed.
The lesson I learned is that one should apply some of the stain to a piece of test wood and see how that looks next to his dash material before using that stain for his dash wood.
Joe

[Shvegel]

Eric,
 You asked if I stained my wood? I didn't tint mine because I appreciated the color that was there and preferred for the car to show the patina of age. All that said I am a fairly expert wood finisher and had I wanted to "restore" the wood I would use an alcohol soluable stains(available from Rockler woodworking online or any fine woodworking supply house) because of the clarity of color. I would start with a dark mission brown and pick another color that is in the range and mix and match until you get a good match on a test piece. You can also lighten it slightly after the fact by rubbing it with clean alcohol.