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I have a friend who inherited a vintage oak steering wheel. He wants to refinish the wheel by sanding off the old finish, but he noticed a brass ring around the hub. He wants to know how he can prevent brass particles from contaminating the wood. Is this something he should worry about? Is there some way to protect the wood from brass particles before or during sanding? I'm thinking either use a chemical stripping compound vs. sanding, or just go ahead and sand but use compressed air frequently to blow the dust off. Any other suggestions? The brass parts are not removable without damaging the wood, so taking it apart is not an option.
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Allan Hill
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The stripper may damage the brass.Possibly a card scraper and then Scotch Brite pads to remove the stripper. I know that ferros stock will stain oak,not sure about brass.Can the brass be masked with tape ?
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Test on scrap.
Pat Warner
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Probably a dense wood without pores. I doubt the brass filings would make a difference to the wood. I'd just sand and refinish and not really question it.
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I would test to see if it's shellac. If so, I probably would French polish the existing finish
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When I have use brass or other metal inlay I soak it with Shellac and then nothing goes into the wood after that.
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He will be better off stripping the wheel. He can try soy stripper but will most likely need to use the more toxic methylene chloride paint stripper. Sanding a curved surface to remove all finish is problematic particularly with the brass.
Klean-Strip SR-72 Premium Paint Stripper Spray would likely do the job. I think that HD carries it.
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Hey Allen,
I have a Black Powder rifle kit that has brass inlayed parts. I have had a minor issue when using fine sandpaper with the pores of the walnut stock, but a wipe down with MS seems to get rid of the fine brass powder. I have been finishing the stock by sanding in shellac and so far it is coming along OK. I’m not sure how the shellac will work out in the long term for a rifle stock.
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FWIW....Just a guess, I suspect when the thing was originally made, the brass and wood were assembled then sanded smooth. Like someone else suggested, sand and follow with compressed air.
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Thanks for all the replies so far. My friend really appreciates the input.
I should mention that he also said the wheel was cracked and splintered, so the restoration requires sanding, followed by some minor filling in of cracks. He's relatively adept at woodworking, but not with this particular task.
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
