Woodgrain on Ruby dashboards (again!)

[Pearls not a Singer]

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My ruby dated Sept 1934 has now been sold on, but I can confirm that it definitely had a detachable dash. I refinished it and the door  cappings with fake wood grain.

A splendid job, congratulations Peter

[Ray White]

That is truly remarkable, Peter. I would love to know more about how you achieved the results.

[Peter Naulls]

Austin dashboards are characterised by wood which contains only two colours - the grain colour and the background, unlike modern photographically produced finishes which use a full-spectrum image. I've heard several accounts of how they might have been produced originally including possibly a mechanical printing technique. If anyone knows definitively how it was done I'd love to know!

For my dash timber veneers were scanned and then tweaked in Photoshop to give a high-contrast black & white image very similar to an original pattern. The artwork was then used to make a single-colour grain-only transfer to a specified colour. The background colour is sprayed in cellulose to match the original before applying the transfer. The finished transfer is then sealed with cellulose lacquer, matted down. It has tested my spraying skills to the limit as any flaws in the lacquer can't be flatted down and resprayed without damaging the grain. Lots of failed attempts before this one!

Peter.

[Mike Costigan]

Knowing the technologies available at the time, the only way I can see how they were produced is by screen-printing the flat sheet and then stamping the panel out afterwards.

[flywheel1935]

My own ARQ Ruby has the 'double dash' and I did wonder if it would have been woodgrain when built, now powder coated black as all my interior covers are now.