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I am not opposed to purchasing a nice used one from eBay. I just want to give restoration a shot, if I fail and admit defeat, an eBay purchase will follow! ;-)
Always been motivated by the same philosophy and that is how I manage to gain more skills. Not a cheapskate, but $99 for a used shiftknob is a little ridiculous. My inner conservative balks at that. It's not about the money, it's about not paying ridiculous prices for things and encouraging the overpriced parts for our cars.
Worst case: shell out the $99 if I fail.
I've been keeping my eye out for a used climate control and see people asking $300+ for units that look absolutely horrible. One was listed for $500 and the LCD screen had black marks inside of it.
No, I actually wanted to go darker, that is three coats of stain and polyurethane together.
Now that I know how to do it, this is really easy. The sanding is the hardest part.
It takes 10 minutes to lightly sand the previous coat with 0000 steel wool, wipe it with tack cloth, apply the stain and clean the brush.
Now that I have it at the color I want, two coats of polyurethane clear will be applied and back on the car.
No, I actually wanted to go darker, that is three coats of stain and polyurethane together.
Now that I know how to do it, this is really easy. The sanding is the hardest part.
It takes 10 minutes to lightly sand the previous coat with 0000 steel wool, wipe it with tack cloth, apply the stain and clean the brush.
Now that I have it at the color I want, two coats of polyurethane clear will be applied and back on the car.
It looks great. Great job! Once you sanded it, I can see why it costs so much. You can see how they glued layers together to get a quarter grain and then carved it out at an angle. Beautiful, but very wasteful of wood so it is expensive.
Okay, the final coat of polyurethane has been applied, I just need to let it dry for a day and reinstall...it is the color I wanted and the marks are gone. It costs me about $15 and my time...
Thanks Helo, it was actually fun, but I did get impatient and pulled out the orbital sander...I thought about the dremel tool but i envisioned huge gouges! LoL