a job completed - '27 Cadillac

[ron david]

I was going to guess that your basic process involved pressing and gluing the veneer into the metal part with a hydraulic press and a hard rubber backing then sanding to expose the high spots of the metal. But I suppose that is like saying you can light a fire by rubbing two sticks together, the devil is in the details.

well at least you guys are working at it.
this job came in in Jan of this year . told customer that it could take a little time to solve the situation, but that it would be solved. guess at the start that it was a little like a bear cub playing around trying to figure which way that I would go. the material that was in there measured between .017-.019" so I went to the fellow that has been supplying me for over 30 something years,Andrew at A & M specialty Woods in Cambridge , Ont.; told him what I needed and they had in stock .019-.020" thickness veneer so that solved that problem. now how was I going to put it in there. I did think about vacuum, and you saw my earlier comment on that subject. I did have good intuition that it was going to have to be pressed in, so I bought a 20ton hyd. press, get some 1/2" thick steel plates to cover the size of the object. then I made a top and bottom platen from 3/4" baltic birch ply(then thought that the tp may have been to hard so also made one from pine-softer- indent easier,not so, so used the BB after trying it out several times it did get a good indentation to it



now what to use for an adhesive.tried a few but had the feeling that they were not going to adhere.this was a failure part with a lot of these things. you are bonding wood to metal(smooth) and that cars can get quite hot on the inside(the sun can cause this reaction) and it lets go. epoxies are my last place to and ended up using a product called G/flex-west systems known as plastic boat repair kit.
now softening the material to make it more malleable. tried using downey fabric softner with the water. soak for a day. made a few trial runs and wasn't impressed; look for the next step. read that I couldn't use the downey as it was not compatible with the g/flex. you can even wipe the subjects down with a cloth that had been in the wash with that stuff in it. the process was soak in water then it was flexable so that I could sort of bend it over(so it didn't break) wrapped in a wet towel and microwave for about 5 min on high just before your going to do it. now for the platen, they were waxed and then put in another microwave. wanted a good wax imbedded surface so that it could pull away from any glue slippage any where. also for a good 5 minutes in the microwave for the platen to get it good and hot. 2 microwaves working at the same time. the glue has been applied to the nickel plating- the press is set up and when both microwaves go ding, it is a go. get the press all done the put my helper bar on the pump bar and give it some more umph and wait for the next day to what has happened.
My first thought at removing the excess was to pare it all off with a nice sharp chisel which I had tried on the second from last attempt. I found that even that thin of veneer has grain direction and found if going against the grain it would pick up the grain. cleaned all of the excess off with a cabinet scraper- flat and of the curved variety. sanded lightly with 220 paper to remove scratches from the nickel, then 400 and then 15 micron paper.
aboout 125 hours for the 5 pieces
ron

[Ryan Mooney]

Thank you for sharing the big reveal! Its pretty highly unlikely I'll ever attempt anything close to this but personally I really enjoy seeing both the product and learning how it was done.

The finished work really is fantastic and I'm sure your client is pleased as punch.