VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 woodgraining on window mouldings

Hi, I'am new to this group and need some advice. I just bought a 31 fourdoor Independence. Can anybody tell me who repaints the window trim in woodgrain? Of if I can do it myself with some guidance.
Thanks

Hi there and welcome to Chevy Chatter II. Glad to have you with us!

The Internet has a really cool search engine called "Google". Go there and type in "woodgraining" and you will get a host of places that do automotive woodgraining and also you will find some companies that offer a do-it-yourself kit.

Thanks Dog, I just wanted to be lazy and come to the Pros first.

I think that you will find a few sites on Google that are just what you are looking for.

Good luck with your project.

Toms
Welcome aboard, you have come to a great sight. I just finished a 32 sedan and I had to paint all of the garnish moldings on it do to age and rust. I bead blasted them and bought a wood graining kit from a company at Hersey last year. It took some practice but by the time I was done with them I felt they turned out great. The kit is a little expensive but so is sending them out to get done. If you want I will get you the name of the kit I purchased.

Good Day All
I also purshased a kit a couple of years ago. But I wasnt happy with the way the graining turned out. The kit came with a rubber pad with grooves to make the graining. But the graining just didnt look right. I finally used cheese cloth to wipe off the top coat.
Does anyone have any tricks to share about making the graining look right?
Is it proper to clear coat the finished mouldings? I would suspect the origional mouldings were not clear coated.
Bye for now.
Mike VCCA 032921

I have a friend which does woodgraining, if you would like his number please let me know. I've had him do mine and some other peoples cars.

Bruce

I visited a fellow in Vermont a few years ago who had just finished restoring a '30 Chevy. I asked him how he had restored the window moldings, and his answer was something like this: He applied a base coat that was the maroon color of red mahogany. (You might find the original base color on the edge of the back side of one of your moldings.) Next, he used black "printers ink" to get the graining effect. You use the cheapest brush you can get (50 cents each for a 1 inch brush at your nearest hardware), and you use the brush almost dry to spread the printers ink to get the graining. You can put a little wave in the ink as you draw the brush the length of the molding. This will make it look more like real wood. The overall effect that he achieved was very good. The molding had a slight sheen when finished so I assume that he sprayed on a final coat of satin varnish. I would experiment with some scraps of sheet metal before doing any of the moldings, just to get the hang of this technique. I hope that you find this info helpful.

I believe the moldings like the steering wheel on the 1930 coupe was black. it was on mine which came from the original owner's estate in 1969 (he passed away in the late 50's).

The window garnish mouldings on some 1930 models, like the Sport Coupe for example, were wood grained.

Several years ago I woodgrained a dashboard using a base coat of red oxide primer. I smoothed it with a paper towel, which is just coarse enough to take out any minor orange peel. I then applied burnt umber artist paint (from a tube) with a paper towel wiggling it slightly as I applied it (to create a grain effect). I re-applied the burnt umber until I was satisfied with the look. Clear laquer was then sprayed on top to seal it. That dash panel still looks good today after 20 years! I would think today's paints could be substituted for a longer lasting finish. Other colors could also be used as the base coat to create the look of other wood types, and black could be used to add to the appearance of the grain.
Sid

I purchased a graining tool (about $9.00) from the paint department at Home Depot or Lowes. The package has instructions on how to create different types of graining. I used several acrillic paint (in a tube) from an art supply store and found it easy to work with. It does not dry very fast so you can work and rework your effort until satisfied. I also clear coated the dry grained metal.