Woodgraining

mrtexas

mrtexas

Well-known member
I just finished several pieces of woodgraining for my 49 woodie inside trim. It is curly maple. Turned out nice. Not quite as easy as they demo on their website but OK.

You can see the plate with the woodgrain etched on it and the rubber roller that is used to pick up the pattern and transfer it to the trim. The basecoat looked way different before I put the ink on it but I like the result. The kit cost around $500. Two more steps remaining, applying toner ink and then clear coating.

I bought the spray cans of basecoat from grainit.com but ended up buying some dupont chromabase in a quart can and used that. Interesting that grainit.com wanted $2,000 to grain just the dash...

basecoat only


the tools of the trade

mostly finished product
 
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I am about to apply the woodgrain on my 33 garnish moldings with same kit you are using, just a different cooor. Not sure how to do it on the sharp corners. How you are dealing with that?
 
mrtexas said:
Interesting that grainit.com wanted $2,000 to grain just the dash...
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Interesting? Maybe, but are you logging your hours and materials cost? I get $3,800 to do a closed Packard, about $2,400 for the average Ford sedan. I use a brush (many different brushes) and have detailed images of original grain patterns. Woodgraining is a love/hate thing. I've done it since 1973 for folks from all over the world and can rightly claim 100% customer satisfaction. At today's shop rates ($65-$75/hr) and the rising cost of materials $2,000 isn't making major profit. It's just paid labor. Repairs, priming, sanding, the art work, final clear and finish, all of that in under 30 hrs plus an easy $150 in materials. You better get it right the 1st time or you're really cutting the hourly rate. But hey, what do I know...

From the early 90s:


About 8 yrs ago, also in raw form:




Which twin has the Toni? Matched to the real thing:


Yes, with that little brush (!):


Something more akin to Frod style:


I'm posting this to inspire your work. It's not easy, it's not impossible either. Once you "feel" what you're doing it goes pretty well and that feel will come and go. If it goes just walk away. Take a photo of what you're doing and look at it later. I like what you've done so far but would like to see more too. Keep at it and good luck.
 
Your work looks beautiful.

Yes it is a lot of labor and technique. I might consider having someone do it locally if I knew someone in the Houston area that did it. It would be difficult to ship all the large trim pieces of a 49 woodie particularly the rear window trim that is 5+ feet long for someone out of town. Cost of paint is about $300 as dupont chromabase basecoat or spray cans from grainit must be used with the grainit ink and toolkit from grainit is around $400 or so. Then there is the uncertainty of base color etc.... The grainit web site makes it look like a job I could do. I have lots of time as I am retired. I've started with the easy pieces like window trim. Dash will be more difficult. I had my dash for 36 woodie done by water immersion method. Turned out good enough for me and way less expensive than hand done method.

I've seen some amateur hand done graining jobs I wasn't impressed with and didn't go that route. The grainit equipment is similar to the technique originally done by Ford and seemed to me to be worth a try as I wouldn't attempt the artistic hand done method as I'm no artist.

I decided the cost of trying was cheap enough for me to try it myself. So far so good. I posted this as an encouragement for others to try who may not know about the grainit technique. It is not out of the range of difficulty for the average car enthusiast to get a good job done.

Here is a shot of my 36 dash done by water film transfer of grain. Nice but not perfect.
https://sites.google.com/site/mrtexascitrus/home/woodgraining
 
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Great Job. I'm restoring a 1949 Ford Woodie also. Will be doing some graining also and following your progress. Thanks for posting your progress. Thanks again.
Bobcats
 
Teltruck said:
Great Job. I'm restoring a 1949 Ford Woodie also. Will be doing some graining also and following your progress. Thanks for posting your progress. Thanks again.
Bobcats
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IMHO the grainit system is the easiest way to do graining.
 
There were a few vendors for the grain service/finish. I know that the 33-4 instrument panel was grained before it was stamped out. I never could figure how that got done, but it was also done on GM stuff in the late 30s to early 40s. Some of the vendors here in Motown were Penninsular Slate, Modern Manufacturing and Continental (something? I forget...) Products. I've seen many original parts with fingerprints on the back, some you could tell they wore gloves, some didn't (!), but that shows that some vendors must have had a line of brush/comb techs to smack the stuff out. The more you do it the easier it gets. Take too long a break and it's easy to forget what was the best "mojo" to make it look nice. I'll raise a right hand to the idea that my stuff is just about too good for the average production look, however, after you've invested lots of love and $$$$$ in the car it's nice to see something a cut above where you "live" in it. Never had one sent back and the only critics were simply "haters" in today's vernacular. Keep it up mrtexas, that instrument panel is lookin good. I'm going to experiment on my own stuff in a cpl weeks with a satin finish. Never tried that so it'll be interesting, and this will be my 1st personal car with my work in it.
 
theHIGHLANDER said:
There were a few vendors for the grain service/finish. I know that the 33-4 instrument panel was grained before it was stamped out. I never could figure how that got done, but it was also done on GM stuff in the late 30s to early 40s. Some of the vendors here in Motown were Penninsular Slate, Modern Manufacturing and Continental (something? I forget...) Products. I've seen many original parts with fingerprints on the back, some you could tell they wore gloves, some didn't (!), but that shows that some vendors must have had a line of brush/comb techs to smack the stuff out. The more you do it the easier it gets. Take too long a break and it's easy to forget what was the best "mojo" to make it look nice. I'll raise a right hand to the idea that my stuff is just about too good for the average production look, however, after you've invested lots of love and $$$$$ in the car it's nice to see something a cut above where you "live" in it. Never had one sent back and the only critics were simply "haters" in today's vernacular. Keep it up mrtexas, that instrument panel is lookin good. I'm going to experiment on my own stuff in a cpl weeks with a satin finish. Never tried that so it'll be interesting, and this will be my 1st personal car with my work in it.
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It's interesting that Ford would use something so labor intensive on production vehicles. I like the wood grain look but i wonder why they didn't just use solid colors.
 
'It's interesting that Ford would use something so labor intensive on production vehicles. I like the wood grain look but i wonder why they didn't just use solid colors.'

Henry was frugal, not cheap. He made vehicles appealing to all economic levels.
 
Hello,

Just bought my first Classic. It is a 1941 S D Ford Convertible.
I am searching for the right color names Ford used in namimg the Woodgrain for my dash and windows.

I feel like the beginner I am.
Thanks for any guidance.

Art Brosius.
 
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