refinishing wood on steering wheel

[adam]

Hi, can anyone tell me the best way to refinish the wood on my steering wheel? Mine has just started to wear thin in a couple of places.

Also, what is the right colour? I have seen various colours from the natural wood, oak to almost mahogany.

Any info would be helpful thanks!

Adam

[Heuer]

Adam

There were two types of steering wheel. The early cars had a Coventry Timber Bending Co Ltd steering wheel with a round beech wood (blond in colour as seen on the iconic brochure cover) and the alloy rim exposed on the inside. Later cars had a mahogany coloured wood wheel with a thumb groove along the upper surface. You can strip off the old varnish, stain the wood if necessary and re-finish with polyurethane or other lacquer. Be aware though the alloy is also lacquered so you will most likely remove that as well.

[adam]

Thanks for the info, sadly mines not the early one.I have had better results with staining wood then varnishing, rather than using coloured varnish.Adam

[Heuer]

Personally I would strip the wood and varnish it 'au naturel' or search eBay for a kit or good original wheel. There is an early one here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0420088410 - depends on how you value your time and chemicals!

[christopher storey]

I tried polyurethane varnish on one of my steering wheels and found, as is too often the case, that in hot weather it went sticky feeling. A friend who was trained as a cabinet maker then suggested that far better results were to be achieved by stripping the varnish and using finishing wax applied with 000 grade steel wool. The results were astounding : it produces a lovely satin finish which stays smooth under any conditions and never seems to get dirty