[njsteve]

I've spent the last couple days experimenting down in the la-bora-tory, Frankenstein-style. Working on refinishing the steering wheel. The original woodgrain wheel was in great condition with no cracks or splits whatsoever, but since it was a manual steering car, there really was no grain or painted finish left on the upper surfaces of the wheel. It was pretty much tan plastic from the front view.

So after reading various blogs, the most useful of which were from stage and movie set designers who made wooden-appearing prop weapons out of PVC pipe, etc, I came to the process I used.

First, I got an old mitre saw blade and used it to randomly scrape across the entire circumference of the wheel to try to duplicate some major grain structure. I then used a piece of 60 grit sandpaper glued to a paint stirrer stick and dragged that across the surfaces as well.

This is probably the one restoration process where the sloppier and more haphazard way you do something, they better it turns out.

Then I wiped the rim down with plastic cleaner - the same stuff you use to get plastic interior panels ready for dyeing.

Then came the Minwax Dark Walnut stain. It is made for wood, not plastic so it takes a bit longer to do anything. I slathered on a layer with a sponge brush. I waited half an hour and wiped it off with a clean T-shirt scrap. It looked good and stayed in the scratches I made with the sawblade and sandpaper. So I did another coat... and another. Probably four all together and let the last one stay on overnight. The stuff gets tacky after a while so you really have to rub hard with the cloth to get the excess off the surface. It serves more as a burnishing than a removing of the material. It looked pretty nice this morning but needed something more.

So I went to the Home Depot and picked up a pack of the Varathane wood repair markers. These are alcohol-based paint markers that come in various wood shades. They worked great. I used the Walnut, Ebony, and Maple markers. All you do is randonly drag the tip across a couple inches of the wheel surface and then immediately wipe it with the rag. This stuff dries very quickly. If you dont wipe fast enough it leaves a heavy mark. But if you just reapply in the same place, it reactivates the paint and you get a second chance to wipe it off. I started with the Walnut, then did the darker Ebony, and finally the Maple. Just making random scraggly marks around the entire front back and sides. Then wiped it all down with some heavy pressure which polished it up nicely.

After all that, I sprayed it with several coats of satin clear Rustoleum.

And here's the results:

Before and after: