wooden trim restoration

[TerryG]

Before I take sandpaper to my veneered trim, is that the best way of removing cracked lacquer?
I'm hoping I can sand through it, stain the sun bleached wood back to the walnut it should be then re lacquer.

[pryantcc]

Generally the rules are to be ridiculously delicate with veneered trim as the veneers are paper thin. I've been advised to avoid sand paper altogether and to use super-fine wire wool to clean stuff back. However, this was for old, varnished stuff rather than something with a modern hard laquer over the top of it. I don't know how you can get through the laquer without resorting to something reasonably aggressive.

[rich.]

i clean up wood with a piece of glass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BxnhEVJhTk

[TerryG]

This looks like it has automotive lacquer over it which is all cracked Rich. I'm not sure I fancy using a bit of broken glass as a scraper to remove it. The veneer and wood underneath are good, just the finish is suffering with 20 years of sun damage. It's interesting that it looks light oak but where the boots for the gear selector have covered a small amount it's definitely walnut.
I think I'm resigned to trying to gently sand back the lacquer, I just have to decide if I make it the factory walnut colour and have it not match the other trim until I get to it OR match the existing trim and leave the other bits alone.
Decisions, decisions.

[rich.]

nitromors?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2ueiGqi4sg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dEdumqO-Bc

[arceye]

Mmmmm, I was holding off commenting in case it doesn't work for you as this sounds a little rough, but I have a technique that has almost always works for me when stripping finishes off everything from antique clocks to varnished / lacquered vehicle trim. It seems to work best if the finish is a little degraded as that is generally not as well keyed to the veneer as it perhaps once was.

So, try it if you wish but please don't blame me if it doesn't work

I use a good chisel, about an inch wide, sharp and perfectly straight along its cutting edge, holding it near vertical and applying as much downward pressure as needed I then drag it across the surface, don't actually use the chisel to cut into the finish as if you were chiselling it off, rather have the chisel with a slight lean from vertical (top towards you), then just drag it toward yourself with enough weight so as it breaks the finish and scrapes it away, it comes away nice and crumbly as a rule.

Then when the worst is off I use wire wool and whatever thinners I can find that will soften the odd remaining flecks of varnish / laquer that are still attached and just keep rubbing away til the surface is free of the finish.

I googled to try and find an illustration of this method but couldn't find much, however the first picture on the page this link goes to shows the jist of how you need the chisel. https://woodgears.ca/table/refinish.html

Sounds a bit rough and you do need to make sure the edge of the chisel is absolutely perfect as you don't want any imperfections to dig into the veneer but it has often worked for me.

[Young Farmer]

My old woodwork teacher taught us how to do a scraped finish. You cut out a2-3" wide piece from an old woodsaw and file one edge perfectly flat. When you have a perfectly flat edge round off the corners slightly. Then using a knife sharpening steel put a burr on the edge. To remove any imperfection on the surface of the wood, or varnish hold the scraper at an angle of approx. 45 degrees and drag it towards you. I'm sure that would work for you and be a little safer than using a piece of glass. I used a belt sander clamped to a bench to clean up the wooden trim on my Wolseley 1500 and almost ruined one piece as the veneer is so thin. What are you using to get a good finish? I used Le Tonkinois Varnish on mine,it gives a superb finish and is waterproof and doesn't seem to fade in sunlight. Don't use water based varnish as that is absolute rubbish.

[alabbasi]

Soak it in acetone, it will strip the clear coat off in no time with no damage to the veneer. I'm not sure which car you're working one but on Mercedes Benz, the veneer is paper thin so sanding will burn through in no time.

[TerryG]

I'm working on my range rover classic. Hopefully in the next month or so i'll get to make a start on this. I keep finding more rust which is pushing my schedule back :S