Wood graining cost

H

harleytoprock

Senior Member
I have a dash rail, in primer, and I'm trying to get an idea of cost for wood graining and clear. What should I expect to pay? Thanks.
 
harleytoprock said:
I have a dash rail, in primer, and I'm trying to get an idea of cost for wood graining and clear. What should I expect to pay? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Around $150.00 if all that needs to be done is based, grained, and clear applied.

Where the extra charges come in is the quality of materials and finish work. For example, is the Woodgrainer using a base from a aerosol
spray can, --or a sprayed urethane? The same with the clearcoating. Is it some cheap clear from an aerosol can or is it a quality 2k urethane product?? Afterwards, is the clear actually colorsanded and hand buffed or just sprayed???
 
I just wood grained my '29 cabriolet dash plus three small switch panels, and had a real painter clear it with PPG 2k paint. The cost was over $500 to clear and polish. Grain-it Kit to do wood graining in original style is several hundred and up. It can be expensive, but is a fun project, and the end result looks fabulous. No pic posted as job is not a Model A restoration.
 
Have you considered hydro dipping? A friend had dash pieces done for his truck. Something like $130.
 
Experiment, with self applied, BLACK graining, over RED OXIDE primer. Looks like "home made" crap, until you clear it, then it comes "alive" & you'll be pleasantly surprised at what did !
Bill W.
 
Did my own with a 39 cent brush cut and notched with scissors. Rattle can primer and spray gun base coat. (Water base) Used mahogany stain for the graining with the cheapo brush. Rattle can sanding sealer and clear coat lacquer by Rustoleum. Most expensive part was the 2000 paper to sand out the finish before rubbing out and waxing. Looks very nice and I have about $75.00 into it. The mahogany stain I had from wood furniture finishing days of yore, so no cost there. Not for the show cars. According to How to Restore Your Model A, book 4, Ford didn't rub out the clear coat and the graining didn't look like real mahogany. I set mine on top of a 100 year old mahogany table and it looks to be the same wood. I dried all the layers in sunshine and 100+ days at least one per layer to minimize shrinkage. For a driver this keeps me happy.
 
How can you colorsand and buff the clear coat when the woodgaining is supposed to be only semi gloss ? Can you buff to semi-gloss?

BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
Around $150.00 if all that needs to be done is based, grained, and clear applied.

Where the extra charges come in is the quality of materials and finish work. For example, is the Woodgrainer using a base from a aerosol
spray can, --or a sprayed urethane? The same with the clearcoating. Is it some cheap clear from an aerosol can or is it a quality 2k urethane product?? Afterwards, is the clear actually colorsanded and hand buffed or just sprayed???
Click to expand...
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
Around $150.00 if all that needs to be done is based, grained, and clear applied.

Where the extra charges come in is the quality of materials and finish work. For example, is the Woodgrainer using a base from a aerosol
spray can, --or a sprayed urethane? The same with the clearcoating. Is it some cheap clear from an aerosol can or is it a quality 2k urethane product?? Afterwards, is the clear actually colorsanded and hand buffed or just sprayed???
Click to expand...

Grain-it sells the same urethane Dupont base in a spray can or you can buy the Dupont base locally and spray in your own spray gun. That particular base requires no hardener. They don't recommend any other brand base coat for use with their grain inks. For a small job costs about the same either way to buy several spray cans or a quart of base. I bought the spray cans for my 49 woodie dash and I'll spray my own clear. I've also sent out my 36 dash to the dippers. Looks great.
 
For graining ideas, just study fake grains on your furniture. I save ALL kinds of "funny" brushes, even make up brushes, etc.
I did BLACK graining, over a Cast-Blast base & called it, "BLACK EBONY"
Whatever grain you "create", SOMEWHERE in the world, there's a grain that looks like that.
Bill W.
 
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Thanks guys. I think I will give the graining a try. 25 years ago, I grained a house steel door with a Home Depot kit and it was fun. I can also spray 2k materials. I will have to match the other moldings. My paint supplier can match the base. Would I use real
base coat or a single stage glossy for the base? The graining on this car looks more rosewood than mahogany. The base is like a tan or light brown. Just a driver so it's fine. For the glazing stain would this stuff work? Anything better?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/391251672340?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
 
I would recommend staying away from real glossy base coats, since this could create problems for you as you begin to lay your grain down on top of it. I have grained a number of pieces for friends on the stipulation that they bring the pieces to me with the base coat already in place. Those who have provided pieces with a slick base coat are much harder to get a good grain to adhere to, and the application of a "smear coat" over that initial grain becomes virtually impossible since the initial grain is often removed in its entirety when you go to wipe down the smear coat (I have found this not to be the case when using "flatter" base coats). As far as the methods to use, I second those positive comments concerning the use of Evan's Grain-it-Technologies graining plates and inks. Good luck to you regardless of what method you ultimately decide to use.
 
When I did the wood grain on my roadster I found the hardest part was finding the right type of brush to simulate the burl effect I was looking for. I trimmed various brushes, tried rags, rollers and anything else I could think of. Finally, the best effect I came up with was using regular plastic bags from the local Stop-and-Rob. After the base coat was dry I wadded up the bags into a little pouch and just dabbed and swirled the over-color; came out looking like someone really knew what they doing. Spray on some clear coat and tell everyone you paid a pro $800 to do the job.
 
Just fyi, here is some Grain-it Technology based wood graining I did for practice. it includes Butt Walnut grain on outside left, straight grain on outside right and Crotch Mahogany in center areas. Different One Shot colors used for pinstriping testing as well. Grain-it has a lot of different graining patterns to choose from. I bought their kit and practiced for about6 months, then tackled my real project. It would probably have been cheaper to pay for a pro to do the job, but the fun of doing it myself was worth any extra cost. With a bit of practice it is not too difficult for most folks to do it themselves, imho.

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Practice plates for Curly Maple
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Butt Walnut practice plate
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a lot of color variation is possible.

Crotch Mahogany in a few colors, next to a sample of Andulusite blue, and clouds.
IMG_5291-vi.jpg
 
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