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I am considering making a wood dash. But I wonder if the nice shinny lacquer finish might actually be a bad thing and would produce a lot of glare when driving. Has anyone that has done a wooden dash had this problem or should I not be concerned because the angle never gets to the point where it shines in you face?
Take some scrap pieces of the wood you plan to use and get some small cans of satin or semi-gloss and try a few pieces out to see if you like something less than gloss. Around '68 dash boards started changing because of light reflection. The TR-6 had a satin wood dash with black bezels on the gauges. The older TR-4 dashes were gloss with chrome bezels but I don't ever remember it being a problem.
Make sure you use a high quality marine varnish because they will have some good UV additives to help the finish last longer without fading.
George
About 50% of my dash is covered with a wood veneer and has a satin finish. I've noticed glare from the area of the body below the windshield with the sun in certain positions but don't remember any from the dash. I haven't driven but an hour or so at night so I don't have any glare data from headlights and such.
Had a number of Triumphs & Morgans back in the '60's. Don't remember any problems with the wooden dashboards.
Thanks all! I have also gotten glare from the body below the windshield. If the dash is nothing compared to that I'm not going to worry about it and just continue the build with the wood dash.
I have an oak dash and door panels in my 818. I used semi gloss spar varnish, no glare and well equipped if it does get wet. I used the multi layered apply, dry, sand, repeat process to get it smooth. I wouldn't use oak again, it took 8 coats to get it smooth due to the aggressive grain of the oak. Just avoid gloss and you will be fine.