Steering wheel refinishing

[PaulColeman]

I've fitted some new wood to an original steering wheel frame but I'm not sure of the best way to finish off the wood. Do I buy some paint on varnish or would a spray varnish be better? Somebody mentioned yacht varnish? The wood is not as dark as those I see so I'm wondering if it needs to be stained beforehand?

Has anybody fitted a wood kit to theirs and have any suggestions please?

Thanks, Paul.

[Heuer]

The lighter the better as the early steering wheels were beech which is a light honey colour. I used Steering Wheel Restorations Ltd to do my CTB Ltd steering wheel and they use the same lacquer they apply to grand pianos - incredible finish that can never be removed and makes the steering wheel very stiff. For DIY I suggest a polyurethane varnish but do some research as 'yacht varnish' may not necessarily be the right stuff to use. It is salt resistant but stripped and redone every couple of years on most yachts; polyurethane used to be generally available but seems to have disappeared from the shelves so you may need to Google it.

[chrisvine]

Another alternative is a Finishing Oil such as Liberon or Colron. It's best to put on about five or so coatings, rubbed down with very fine wire wool between each coat.

[PaulColeman]

I like the idea of lacquer better as I think it will make the wood smoother. I've got some car lacquer in the garage - I'm wondering if that will do the job?

Paul.

[christopher storey]

Varnish has a horrible tendency to go sticky in high temperatures . The car lacquer may well start to come off in no time at all under finger pressure, and is really meant for impermeable surfaces ( although I have used it on my saloon Jaguar woodwork with some success). I use Colron finishing wax , applied with 0000 wire wool , which produces a lovely soft sheen finish which when touched feels superior to any of the other finishes I have tried . It can easily be cleaned with e.g. white spirit and then reapplied

[neil4444]

I agree with Chris re varnish issues. If going for a wax finish I recommend 2 or 3 coats of sanding sealer first & sand between each coat (final sanding with flourpaper).

[Heuer]

You do need to be careful in selecting the type of varnish to use. Unfortunately the days of readily available solvent based polyurethane varnishes has long gone and we are left with water based varnishes. The E-Type wheel was originally a high gloss so it is worth spending some time doing research into what is available to replicate it maybe in the non-domestic market. Applying it with a brush is always going to be a challenge in getting a perfect finish though.

If is was a Coventry Timber Bending Co Ltd wheel with its original beech considering anything other than a professional restoration would be foolish but with the later mahogany grooved wheels a DIY finish is the most cost effective solution. Try Ronseal Diamond Hard floor varnish or equivalent floor finish - it is solvent based and it is not going to be affected by sweat or wear from your hands.