Thread: Gday to all! Building a dash

I reckon a nice piece of fiddleback blackwood would look nice. A dash is one of the few places I reckon it would look good highly polished.

You're an evil, evil man, Alex!

Fiddlebacked Tas Blackwood is glorious stuff, but I wouldn't class it as "easy to work with." (Nor any other fiddlebacked timber, really.)

Still, it would be well worth the effort...

The fiddleback blackwood sounds the go but make sure whatever you use is very well seasoned.
I've have Blackwood move on me - not good.

As others have said movement would be a problem due to the big tempriture changes in a car. I have never had a go at this but I would think the easiest method would be marine ply with a nice veneer overlay. Perhaps some of the beat builders would know as they do instrument panels for boats.

Regards
John

Cheers John,

i had a look at some fiddleback and i think it is stunning! would make an awsome dash, my only concern is how easy is it to work with?

ive already made a plywood template to fit the car and it looks great! but i would like to go with something a little nicer than plywood and im not really a fan of veneer...

any other suggestions would be great!

Cheers,
Matt

Dash,
You say you are no fan of ply but when you consider that Rolls Royce use veneer on ply for their dashboards you can understand there is merit in using it.
My advice would be the same as orraloon, go for veneer on a stable ply base. The heat in a car can get extremely high and I fear that a thin solid wood dash might give trouble.


Jerry

War does not decide who is right. War only decides who is left.

I made a dash for a Cooper 'S' back in 1980. The trick is to use three sections and allow for movement. Crotch Walnut can't be beaten and Id veneer it on mdf as already mentioned.

When I was working at Rockler, a gentleman came in and purchased veneer, book matched for a restoration dash in his XK-150. I asked about using solid wood. His answer was that the heat when the car was closed caused the solid wood to crack badly.

He used Baltic birch and sent the old dash (Plywood) with the veneer and new Baltic birch off to a small shop in Florida. The shop did the instrument holes and veneering. He brought the car back to the store to show me the dash. Really spectacular! First an oil finish then a few coats of poly. WOW!

BTW - The rest of that old Jag looked as good as the dash. More of a project of love than an attempt to make money by fixing it up and selling.

Sorry, I was thinking more about appearance than practicalities.
I would definitely go for veneer on good quality ply. Veneer both sides - the reverse can be something cheap - and make sure the grain runs at right angles to the outside plies.
To avoid tear out on fiddleback, spray it with water before you machine it, or buy pre-cut veneers (but beware when sanding - they are very thin). If you have access to a drum sander it can be pretty useful, otherwise, a very sharp plane and scraper.
Let's see some pics when you get started.

You could veneer but not my cup of tea.
Do it in solid a little over thickness cut all your holes and then have the shaped and holed board thickness sanded for a few $ you get a perfect job.
If you are worried about movement then Cut some 3 or 4 mil veneer and put a sheet of the right thickness ply between them.
Laminate together shape and drill instrument holes and thickness sand to finish

Ross

well i got pretty bored the other afternoon and decided that i wanted to start this, into the old mans garage and picked out some "scrap" (later turns out to be some WA ceder.... whoops!) and i got a basic idea of how i want to set it all out..... admitidly not the worlds greatest job (after leaving school around a decade ago havent really touched any wood tools in a while....

It looks like a nice flat area to work on.

Western Red Cedar with straight grain - looks dull and boring.

You need a special piece of timber.

A light colour veneer would look pretty smart.

Something like Huon or a Queensland maple burl.

Definitely recommend going to a speciality veneer supplier and going wild! Burl is what you want I reckon - maybe as an alternative, you could use bird's eye maple or Huon Pine - would look brilliant..... for a year.... an exterior decking-grade UV Poly is the go too, I think. I did a bunch of things to a car I had in the 80's including replacing dash plastics and console lid with Mahogany to match the steering wheel .... worked OK on the console but the dash stuff cracked, even though it has been finished well.