I'm restoring a 1926 two door sedan, and want to remove the three coats of paint from the wheel spokes to the natural wood. After using paint stripper to it's limit, is there a way to get most of the rest of the black paint out of the grain of the wood? Sand paper, Bleach?? Thanks for any suggestions that will help.
Restoring Wood Spokes
- Thread starter Chip
- Start date
Willie in Houston
Senior Member
Ford did not supply cars with natural wood finish. Those wheels were probably repainted after they had some serious age cracks. Sanding that much off to get to bare wood is probably not practical. I do not have an answer except black.
PS Make sure you check all spokes for tightness. If the spokes move at all when you give them a serious pull, they are to loose and will loosen up more when you start driving the car. They can be tightened by using shims.
Good luck
PS Make sure you check all spokes for tightness. If the spokes move at all when you give them a serious pull, they are to loose and will loosen up more when you start driving the car. They can be tightened by using shims.
Good luck
CharlieB
Well-known member
If you must get down to hand sanding I found mounting the wheel in a Work Mate type bench and cutting strips about 1" wide from belt sander belts worked quite well. Also picked up one of those diamond shaped detail sanders for close to the hub. Plenty of work but worth it. No need to go totally nuts.Some golden oak stain and they'll look great.
The later '26 and '27 were avail with factory option of "natural" or varnished wood spokes. Don't use bleach as that will attack the wood fibers. The very best is to use paint scrapers. You can buy them, but the cheap and fast and sharpness are shards of plate glass. If you have an old windshield or window glass from your T, that can be wrapped in an old towel, smash the glass, and use the long tapered shards of glass to scrape the wood clean.
Have done that lots of time, then sand lightly, and coat with diluted spar varnish, steel or bronze wool between coats after dry, or light sand if you get a run, then continue with more coats of varnish, each less diluted until you get to full strength coat.....
Have done that lots of time, then sand lightly, and coat with diluted spar varnish, steel or bronze wool between coats after dry, or light sand if you get a run, then continue with more coats of varnish, each less diluted until you get to full strength coat.....
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cindisargent
Junior Member
[FONT="]Whatever you do, don’t use bleach! I’ve had a really bad experience with it. [/FONT]