I would like some advice on the restoration of a wooden propeller hub. The original varnish has deteriorated, taking on a crackled appearance, is there a way of removing this without sanding? The carved markings are shallow, so I don’t really want to sand the surface with anything more abrasive than flour paper. The wood is very dry, how should it be re-finished? I would love to restore the deep rich colour of the original wood.
Thanks very much in advance for any comments.
By: Robert Edward - 2nd February 2014 at 20:37
Thanks, I will try white spirits first. This is the hub.
By: Fouga23 - 2nd February 2014 at 19:09
I wouldn’t sand it. Rather remove the varnish with a spirit like Rocketeer said.
By: Rocketeer - 2nd February 2014 at 18:18
I had a Curtiss FB (H12) that had similar ‘cracking’ it was actually mostly smoke residue (it was in a pub in Philly for 50+ years). I used white spirit and it came off beautifully. I then used french polish to revamp it. You can use teak oil. Just be careful with steel wool.
By: Robert Edward - 2nd February 2014 at 13:09
Thanks, I hadn’t thought of wet wire wool, that could work well.
By: Sopwith - 2nd February 2014 at 10:59
Hi Robert I did a Sopwith Camel one a few years ago, this was in a terrible state and had become delaminated in places amd infact you couldn’t see any markings in the hub. I damped the wood and made up some clamps that they wouldn’t do any damage then re-glued the blades where they were de-laminating. After the glue had set and all was dry I went all over it with fine wire wool, than damped it again let it dry and repeated the wire wool process, I then re-varnished it with “Randolph Spar Varnish”. I was amazed how the rich colour came back, but perhaps I was just lucky also you could clearly see all the markings on the hub, which were practically invisible before. Good luck.
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February 2, 2014 at 8:17 am