[TR] dashboard refinishing

[Gary Nafziger]

I did my dashboard a year ago and am mostly happy with it.  Mine was very badly chipped and peeling so instead of simply sanding and re-varnishing I took off the veneer.  This came off fairly easily with chisel and putty knife.  I found veneer at a box home improvement store and wanted mahogony or birds eye maple........but they were out so i got in a hurry and used oak.  For some reason the grain didn't show up as i anticipated (I wish now i would have chosen a darker stain).  

It was all pretty straight forward.  I laid the veneer on the dash in glue and after it dried  trimmed around the edge with a router with the bit they use to cut formica counter top edges.  The guage holes were most tedious.  I cross split them in the middle then trimmed around the inside with a sharp blade.  Of course then I had to cut out the glove box area carefully in order to use the remaining piece to cover the glove box door.  

I'm happy with the result.  It's a huge improvement over before but I wish I'd taken more time to experiment with a differant grain and darker stain.

gary n