[Healeys] Refinish steering wheel

Fri Jan 1 06:48:01 MST 2016

I believe that boiled linseed oil will also soften the existing finish to the point that it will pick up dirt and become quite ugly. Old finishes on furniture were formulated with linseed oil and over the years they got soft, picked up dirt and got ugly. That process would be accelerated with something that in in your hands constantly and would always be sticky. 

I would suggest using Restore-A-Finish that is easy to use, yet will not take any wood away to expose the rivets more. See 
http://www.howardproducts.com/prod-restor-a-finish.php . When I did the search for this I saw that Lowe's and Home Depot may carry it. I have used it on furniture and also to refinish the hardwood floor in my 60 year old house. It worked great for the floors, but was more work on the furniture that I worked on because the old finish was harder. The result will be a much harder finish than anything with linseed oil in it, which is what you want on a steering wheel, gear shift knob, or anything being touched often. 

As you will see at the website, there are a lot of different 'colors' so you can match what your steering wheel was originally. 

Charlie Baldwin 

----- Original Message -----

From: "richard mayor" <boyracer466 at gmail.com> 
To: healeys at autox.team.net 
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 9:35:29 PM 
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Refinish steering wheel 

Be careful using raw linseed oil. It never dries. Check out boiled linseed oil. 

On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 3:24 PM, Chris Scholz < drscholz at visioncenterpc.com > wrote: 

I think I'll clean mine up with linseed oil and take it from there. Thanks for the input. 

Sent from my iPhone 
Chris Scholz OD 

On Dec 31, 2015, at 4:44 PM, Doug Barker < douglas.barker at videotron.ca > wrote: 

<blockquote>

HELLO 

I was just thinking of doing mine also so this is good timing: 

My wheel is I believe aMotta but much lighter wood 

Please define –White spirits-possible Methal Hydrate? 

Also PU solvent based PU? 

Thanks-everything else I agree with 

From: Healeys [ mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net ] On Behalf Of Oudesluys 
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 12:43 PM 
To: healeys at autox.team.net 
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Refinish steering wheel 

Of what I can see the steering wheel does look very nice and patinated. I would not do anything to it apart from cleaning it with white spirits on a rough cloth or kitchen abrasive sponge and rubbing in some linseed oil. 
Look for remnants of lacquer on the inside of the aluminium. It may have been coated only with a wax or oil, e.g. linseed oil if you cannot find anything. 

Depending on the age of the wheel it could be coated with acrylic paint. If that is the case this must be completely removed before repainting. 
Start with degreasing the wood very carefully and thoroughly with white spirits. Sand very lightly with 320 grade sand paper until the colour is even and all lacquer is removed but remove as little wood/aluminium material as possible. Remove all the dust carefully. Repaint using a soft round brush with PU solvent based clear lacquer (as used on boats or wood floors) with about 4-5 coats or more at well over 20C so the lacquer will flow evenly. Let every coat dry thoroughly for a few days and sand lightly with 400 grade in between the coats. I prefer to coat wooden wheels using a satin finish, but others prefer gloss. 
Another method is applying many very very thin coats of raw linseed oil and leave every coat to dry for at least a week at summer temperatures. 
Generally mahogany plywood or solid mahogany is used but walnut can be used as well. Lighter woods are also used. Yours looks like mahogany ply. 
It is a good idea to try out the process first on an old battered Moto-Lita wheel (same manufacturer). 

I have done many steering wheels using PU solvent based lacquer and also using raw linseed oil. I prefer the latter method. The drawback may be that in the beginning your hands will smell of linseed oil. 

Kees Oudesluijs 

Op 31-12-2015 om 17:48 schreef Chris Scholz: 

<blockquote>

I am finishing restoration of my BN4. Any ideas on how to improve the looks of my wooden steering wheel?  The wood is in very good shape. I would like to lighten it up some, but am nervous to start sanding it since the metal rivets would be more exposed. Any idea what kind of wood they used?  Are these maple?  I know they are not original. I see the original wheels were black plastic. 

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