Art & Inspiration Is wood graining a thing of the past?

Only thing better... real wood.
But it's gotta be nice. Like fine furniture.

 

Just woodgrained my heater. It was boring flat black. Now it matches my dash and garnish moldings.

 

Like this Model A roadster pickup made from strips of cherry wood? The body is 100% made from wood. It's incredible. It's on an original A frame with the original drivetrain.

 

I may have to whenever I get after my wife’s Nono’s ‘46 Chev Fleetmaster. Original thought was to use an article in Skinned Knuckles as a guide but hydro dipping may . I like the idea of the basecoat/ inks and tinfoil, plastic bags, scrunched paper thought.

 

I built my dash in 2004 using English walnut. It's hard to believe that was nineteen years ago!

 

In the A, I wanted it to match the rest of the interior. I might redo it this winter just to have something to do. Had an old Chevy stepside that I did in more realistic colors, one lady kept looking at it and finally asked how I got the shelf paper ( the kind with the sticky back) to lay so flat!

 

I like woodgraining . The 47 Mercury I pulled out of a shed had wood graining . Someday I hope to have it restored.( the dash , the car is staying barn find colors with out the dust ) The dust and moisture didn’t do it any good

 

Speaking of wood/woodgrain, remember those "Wabbit" dashes from a few decades ago? Holy bumfuk, seemed every street rod had to have one. I didn't like em at all (go figure) and thought they looked like "How to turn an old headboard into a dashboard" but damn they sold a ton of em.

 

Yup, & they weren't cheap. Loads of T-buckets had them, & then like rabbits, they proliferated/morphed into near-anything that didn't move fast enough. I do wonder, just how wealthy Wabbit got - he had to be rollin' in it. Good for him anyways as a successful business, but was really hard on the eyes... I still can't "unsee" what I saw...
Marcus...

 

That's what I mean about real wood. It's got to be right. And even Wabbit didn't really get it right. At least in my eyes. I think a lot of it is that the wood graining is usually very dark. And I like that, whether it's real wood or not. Almost black. I don't particularly care for gold colored oak and the like on the inside of a car. Maybe for a canoe.
The details of the contours matters, too. It's almost like the wood needs to be so tightly detailed as to look like it's made of metal.
For that reason, imo, wood graining often looks better than real wood.

 

Wow, pretty rough on Wabbit. Glad I didn't post the T Bucket with the oak dash And bed!!

 

I had to look that up (and sift through the Warner Bros cartoon images), never heard of it. Hmmm, looks like a 70s skateboard. Those were from a time frame I HATED pre war Fords........I couldn't see past the street rodness, thanks to 50s hot rod movies and little books for letting me see the truth.

 

Craig Clemens from Oakland, CA., (deceased) did about the nicest painted wood grain I saw, really amazing. I have always liked the wood grain finish on dashes and moldings.

 

Post away on the wood-dashed T. I'm not going to bitch or report it. I just don't like his work. Saw a lot of it. Respect his business acumen - he sold a Titanic-load of those things. Wouldn't buy one, nor keep one. & I *do* like a lot of the streetrod stuff from the late 60's->early 80's. When street rods were hotrods for regular long-distance use. What good is something that can only make it to the local DQ? Saw those too, had one of them that never got finished before it got sold. & I've also appreciate stock stuff - to a point. Workmanship is workmanship, quality is quality. What I like, or don't, shouldn't affect you & your likes.
Marcus...

 

I didn’t do the dash, but I did all of the window trim on my ‘46 Chevrolet coupe. I started with a flat tan base and then used an oil based varnish stain with a cheap paint brush for the wood grain. I plan to do wood grain on the Packard when the time comes.

 

Marcus, you're Good! Lots of things are an acquired taste, like Moxie cola.

 

I've seen a lot of tutorials on it and they do make it look easy, at least easy to do over if you don't like the outcome. Some cars take the effect well; some cars don't. I might attempt it depending on the car I'm working with.

 

Looks like quiet a few of you guys have mastered the art of wood graining. HRP

 

Can't remember what car or where I saw it but I recall a full dash fabricated for some newer O/T car that was built up and carved by hand, definitely NOT a flat chunk of oak slab routed out for instruments; this one had the back side relieved to remove weight and allow for the various switches and controls it needed. After all that came the hand rubbed varnish gosh only knows how many coats... fancy, that was.

 

About ten years ago I had a 69 Vista Cruiser. A friend who's a great with an airbrush did the exterior woodgrain on the tailgate and all the way down both sides. It was great an looked like oak. Said he'd never do that many boardfeet again!!

 

this was done with flat tan base , watco dark walnut stain bumped with a wad of saran wrap.
Left overnight then several coats of urathane clear.

 

^^^^^^^^^^ Nice work.

 

Very nice.

 

Not for me. I had the dash and garnish molds hydrodipped for my 46 Olds for that OEM (Art Deco) look as well as having the steering wheel pearled to match OEM 2-tone paint scheme and sourcing correct OEM broadcloth interior.

 

This woody is all steel with the wood done in wood grain paint.

 

Wanna hear something strange? I can't "see" what I'm doing. All I see is process, not woodgrain. I have to take a picture and walk away, then view both later to adjust to what I'm seeing. Not even sure if I'm explaining it right.

 

What exactly is Hydrodipping? HRP

 

I tend to agree it can come off as a '70's restomod thing. When my '40 was restored someone thought it was a good idea to woodgrain the dash, and it isn't the best job, but it's kind of grown on me and I haven't brought myself to sand it off and start over, I've just sort of embraced it and I think it works.

 

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Fantastic…always thought it would be a good way for a metal guy to build a woody. The added benefit would be, all the rectangular tubes would (almost) act like a roll cage! Way lower maintenance than a real woody too.

Inspirational picture:

 

@drdave did his not a 32 recently and it’s killer looking!