Re-veneering the wood trim on my saloon

[ricky8664]

Looking to have the wood on my P5 saloon re-veneered in something a bit more attractive than the original wood.

Can anyone recommend veneer restorers in the South East? I live in Essex.

I'm already aware of GKD veneering in Crewe - just wondered if there's anyone closer as I'm not prepared to put the wood in the post, and a double return journey to Crewe from Essex is probably nearly 1000 miles!

[tarnowl]

May 4, 2023 17:36:49 GMT ricky8664 said:

Looking to have the wood on my P5 saloon re-veneered in something a bit more attractive than the original wood.

Can anyone recommend veneer restorers in the South East? I live in Essex.

I'm already aware of GKD veneering in Crewe - just wondered if there's anyone closer as I'm not prepared to put the wood in the post, and a double return journey to Crewe from Essex is probably nearly 1000 miles!

I don’t understand why you are worried about sending the wood in the post.  I sent mine from Southern France with no problem and GDK do a fantastic job!  Try using ‘Send my Bag’, who are couriers.  They collect from you and deliver very fast.

[p5bcoupe]

Tarnowl, if you don't mind me asking how long did it take for the company in Crewe to complete the job and return it to you?

Then I suppose the next question would be were the costs reasonable?

Your answers may well persuade others to trust the precious parts to the same company.

[ricky8664]

The main issue for me is what happens if they get lost in the post. You very rarely see the wood up for sale so even if insured, it would not be easy to get a replacement. Additionally mine is generally in very good nick with just some water damage to the bottom front corner of the front passenger door piece and the curved corner fillet, both from a leaking front screen.

So my preference is to find someone closer to Essex than Crewe to do the work.

[touchwood]

May 5, 2023 5:17:03 GMT tarnowl said:

May 4, 2023 17:36:49 GMT ricky8664 said:

Looking to have the wood on my P5 saloon re-veneered in something a bit more attractive than the original wood.

Can anyone recommend veneer restorers in the South East? I live in Essex.

I'm already aware of GKD veneering in Crewe - just wondered if there's anyone closer as I'm not prepared to put the wood in the post, and a double return journey to Crewe from Essex is probably nearly 1000 miles!

I don’t understand why you are worried about sending the wood in the post.  I sent mine from Southern France with no problem and GDK do a fantastic job!  Try using ‘Send my Bag’, who are couriers.  They collect from you and deliver very fast.

[touchwood]

What sort of species of veneer are you thinking?

[ricky8664]

This sort. Saw it on a web page somewhere and so loved the look, I copied it. Not sure where I saw it now so I cannot ask them.


Attachment Deleted 

[tarnowl]

I chose to have Burr Walnut on my Coupé.  I know that this will send the purists among members into a spin, but frankly I didn’t like Sepele and my choice was not too far away from African Walnut in terms of colour pitch. I often wondered if any clients had made special order requests, although I suspect that such requests would not have been possible in the day.  However, I know that there are some out there who have made the same choice and it does look fantastic and to my mind, give a real touch of class!😊. (Sorry to offend anyone with a different opinion!😬)

[tarnowl]

May 9, 2023 13:56:21 GMT p5bcoupe said:

Tarnowl, if you don't mind me asking how long did it take for the company in Crewe to complete the job and return it to you?

Then I suppose the next question would be were the costs reasonable?

Your answers may well persuade others to trust the precious parts to the same company.

It took about 4 months.  They are always very busy and it depends on the workload at the time.  Regarding the costs, I thought that it was value for money.  As you can imagine, there is a huge amount of work involved and the finish takes a great deal of time.  If you have a saloon I believe there would be more work with the door surrounds, but ask them for an estimate.  Prices for veneer will have gone up since October 2020.
Remember, tremendous care must be taken when refitting, as is is so easy to damage the finish glaze.  One scratch could spell disaster!😱

[djm16]

Was this the effect you were looking for?

Original veneer stripped + 10 coats spar varnish.

This is how it used to look:

[ricky8664]

I've been in touch with a couple of re-veneerers in the south of England about the finish shown in my earlier post. Apparently it's called burrwood?

Spoken with one of them this morning. Doing the windows and front fascia pieces in this would cost upward of £2k as its time consuming to match the pattern all around the window frames on the saloon. Not an issue on the coupe as there is only a door capping for each door rather than a complete frame around each window.  I really like the look - but not at £2k plus.

Apparently, he said from his recollection the P5s windows were not veneered but made from solid Walnut. As only two of my pieces have suffered water damage due to the front screen leaking I'm "just" going to have the wood refinished at about £600 for the windows and fascia panels. I'll remove the bits before the car goes for a respray so I don't have them hanging around to get damaged before then.

 

[percy]

May 15, 2023 12:13:49 GMT ricky8664 said:

I've been in touch with a couple of re-veneerers in the south of England about the finish shown in my earlier post. Apparently it's called burrwood?

Spoken with one of them this morning. Doing the windows and front fascia pieces in this would cost upward of £2k as its time consuming to match the pattern all around the window frames on the saloon. Not an issue on the coupe as there is only a door capping for each door rather than a complete frame around each window.  I really like the look - but not at £2k plus.

Apparently, he said from his recollection the P5s windows were not veneered but made from solid Walnut. As only two of my pieces have suffered water damage due to the front screen leaking I'm "just" going to have the wood refinished at about £600 for the windows and fascia panels. I'll remove the bits before the car goes for a respray so I don't have them hanging around to get damaged before then.

 

[percy]

Never Walnut and never veneered. Saloon had Africa Cherrywood. Can be restored by a non- professional. Plenty of help on the net.

[djm16]

YMMV but the finish in the picture above is very definitely a veneer. I know because I spent a lot of time reattaching it before I could varnish it.