[bentleyman22]

Hi I need a really good man to refurbish some wood in my Bentley (UK)
The man I used to use has gone to his maker
Jacko????

 

[koenig]

I only had a few days in London. Toured Frank Dale and Stepsons. They seemed to do good work. Found their inventory for sale to be high in pricing and suspect shop rates are also on the high side.

The Shadow companion does cover wood restoring but mentions not the same on latter models. Thinner veneers if memory is correct. Did seem easy but time consuming to do the job yourself. So Id rather pay someone to do it these days. Even higher rates if the job is factory or better. Frank Dale well their examples shown of work was excellent quality..................

 

[woody]

I have done the wood myself. I used a heat gun to get the old stuff off. Use sand paper as a last resort with minimal pressure. Use steel wool just before you paint. Painting can be another trick. Perhaps you can take it to a furniture maker and have it done.

 

[bobo]

Speaking of wood.. if the wood is in good shape, how best to maintain it?

The lacquer on my wood trim and dash is still glossy, smooth, with no peeling... I'd like to keep it that way

 

[koenig]

Speaking of wood.. if the wood is in good shape, how best to maintain it?

The lacquer on my wood trim and dash is still glossy, smooth, with no peeling... I'd like to keep it that way

My Spur manual says. Water damp cloth and then buff with soft dry cloth. Believe that most of the problems are caused by furniture wood polishes, etcetera being used.

 

[bobo]

Thanks.. I kinda figured furniture cleaners were a bad idea.

I feel fortunate that nearly 50 year old finish is looking good (knock on wood) pun intended

another thing I was thinking about, was possibly a UV protection window tint.. not to necessarily darken the windows, but keep sun damage to a minimum. I've seen several Silver Clouds with a light tint to the windows and wondering if UV protection was the intent.

 

[bentleyman22]

Hi well my Wood was in very good condition
No marks then one day they just cracked both front door capping
The only reason I can come up with is the difference in car temp
Still not happy it will have to wait till May when it comes off the Road for the summer

 

[koenig]

I'm wondering tinting as well. My Spur spent most of its life in Southern California and wood is good, not perfect though. Small waves but not cracked apart yet. Not worth doing myself. My other one one AZ desert car originally and it had about the same wave, with one seat belt assumed chip on the drivers capping. Also the corner piece on dash came loose and not fixed properly (paper insert to tighten it place). The buyer tried negotiating a better price based on redoing the wood. I like the patina if shines up and is not split open obvious. So think he was just being picky perfect. The sun (UV) at least on two of mine and others I've looked at does not seem to be a huge factor on the wood..............Still believe its chemical cleaning products are far worse! The clear windows polished by the factory, look way too good to tint!

I priced out replacing for the buyer all together--$1,300 to $2,300 for used good condition kits from breakers in states. Buyer wanted original to the car though. Claimed he spent $6,000 on repairing his Cloud wood to concours perfection. I could live with replacements at that refinish price--one of the parts I'm bidding on Ebay actually just in case.

 

[bobo]

I'm less concerned about about keeping the windows as they came from the factory, If a tint will protect the wood.

I know unless I put the car in a vacuum, the elements will eventually ravage metal, leather, and wood.. I'd like to fend off the inevitable as long as possible and still drive my SC... Being a concours automobile is not my SC's future.. I keep my cars pristine, but I drive them

The care of wood is new to me, my other car is '62 Chrysler.. not a splinter of wood on the car.. so I'm pretty clueless on how to keep the wood nice

 

[woody]

I believe it is more of a temperature difference that causes the finish to crack. My Seraph came from Florida and had perfect wood. After about a year I noticed the finish cracking. After 2 years it was horrible. In Canada we get in cold cars and turn on the heat. Several cycles like that will crack the thick shine on the original wood with the constant heating and cooling, contracting and expanding. I refinished my wood with a thinner coat of varnish. I think it looks better with a thin coat rather than a thick plastic looking layer as with the factory finish.

 

[CaesoniaF]

Speaking of wood.. if the wood is in good shape, how best to maintain it?

The lacquer on my wood trim and dash is still glossy, smooth, with no peeling... I'd like to keep it that way

Hi folks. While I am now in the process of finding and purchasing my first Bentley, I do feel I can add something regarding wood- car and interior. Our British cars certainly had plenty of wood in them, and I have quite a collection of wood furniture that has had to travel all over the world for multiple generations. ( It sure shows it too.) I also have several wood instruments.

The nature of wood doesn't change whether it is in a car, or a house. It's just that in a car, it is exposed to more physical stresses, both from the motion of the car, and the weather.

Probably the single element most likely to impact your wood is the relative humidity. Even if you garage a car, and the humidity goes from the moist gulf air of Florida to the drier realms in Canada, the wood will contract and warp as it dries out. This in turn can crack a lacquer because like enamels, it is not very flexible. To put that into perspective one of my Cuban mahogany tables, that came back from Havanna with my mother as a girl, now has 1/4 inch gaps at some of the joins. This is the extreme, because this table, for some unknown reason, was stuck onto the back porch. Covered, yes, but there it sat for 50 years, until I decided I needed it for more than a drinks table. The pieces that remained inside suffered far less, because we do live in a fairly humid environment in the Mid-Atlantic.

If you have your car from a place that is very humid, you would best to try and garage it witha humidifier to slow the process down. Things will adjust, but they have to do so slowly. I keep a humidifier for me, but also in a room with my instruments to control the total humidity.

Honest, I would think that Bentley would be using a poly of some sort over the last few decades, which is more tolerant, rather than a lacquer, but you would have to ask the people here that worked at Crewe.

The second most damaging part to your wood is obviously going to be the sun. That is easily helped with by using a windscreen shade for when you leave the car parked and to try and not park it in the sun whenever possible.

From a cleaning perspective, the real risk is that over time, the surface will get scratched or that chemicals of some sort will damage the surface of the finish. As it gets scratched, dirt gets into the scratches. Proided there is no real grime from something spilled, or super greasy fingers, using first a tack cloth to remove dust and then your breath with a soft buffing cloth will do the trick. should youg et something more than that, a damp cloth with just a tiny bit of glycerin soap, and then a wipe with a damp cloth, before soft buff cloth should be plenty.

Should you hae acar old enough for a real wood finish, a tack cloth with a hint of linseed oil, and then a buffing cloth will do fine. Glycerin soap for real grime to start. You want the natural patina of the wood to come through, and that is small amounts of oil and time itself.


To a large extent leather is the same. Glycerin soap with a bit of lexol will go a long way. on my horse tack I use just glycerin soap except when the leather is very new. That's because new leather is a bit drier. It is the natural oils from the horse that make the leather dark and supple, and as long as you remove the sweat salts with glycerin soap, it takes care of itself. I am afraid the object in a Bentley is not to have your bottom dripping with perspiration so we can't count on natural oil. Thus, a bit of lexol. You will find that if this cleaning goes on routinely like once every few weeks, the leather will become very soft and pliable.


IN either case, if your car has a leak, and water stands, you will destroy adhesives and get rot so that should be a no brainer.

That's worked well for me over the years, hope it gives some insight.

Cheers.

 

[Stirling]

welcome back!

Caesonia we haven't heard from ya in a while. Good to have you back.

 

[bentleyman22]

Sorry been working silly hours

 

[Paul Yorke]

UK wood re-finisher in Kingston near London.

Does accept them by courier and couriers them back.

020 8397 3333

Feel free to mention me.

 

[englishempire]

Amazing Paul, i was just looking into this subject and see they are near me! I will definitely mention you!

 

[B'smooth]

Enjoyed the conversation. Just happen to run into this. Take some time please and post some pics. Would love to see some. Thanks in advance.

 

[bentleyman22]

Well she is off the road with a long list
Brakes/Wood/Service/New Plugs Wheels to be refurbish
Remove heater control bored and have it fixed
New rear window and seal (water leaking in to Boot)
New front window and seal (Chipped)
So something to stop me from getting bored
yes will get some before and after
thanks for the PM
Michael

 

[B'smooth]

You are more than welcome to the PM Bentleyman. Just glad to be back. But speaking of wood. Here is one of my lastest projects. Solid and custom crafted. For those who would like to see more.
Visit www.bsmooth.com
Click on the image for a bigger picture. This is how we do it @ B'smooth.

 

[bentleyman22]

Love your new web site and the wood
I think I will be going for less lacquer depth as I don’t want it to crack again
Only bean away due to work and trying to get some sleep
Just been redesigning the exhaust pipes on the Jag as I want it right
I thing it will sound a lot better and give 25 bhp extra which should be good
Having to drive a Merc CLS 500 very fast but boring
Did something silly wife thinks I need to see the Doc I have got a Fiat Coupe 20V in YELOW

 

[B'smooth]

Thanks Bentleyman. We just try and do our best in everything we do at B'smooth. Got some more wood stuff to post soon. One of my personal projects and that of past customers. Cracking has never been an issue with us. The next project I'll show, the finish is over ten years old and been stored in the high heat and cold. All kiinds of weather while constantly being used.