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MG TD TF 1500 - Original wood treatment

Been through the archives and cannot find the answer I am looking for. I have a 55 TF with all of its original wood. There is no sign of rot anywhere. My question is about keeping it that way as I intend to use this car rain or shine. And we get plenty of rain here on the west side of the great state of Washington. (USA) It appears Cuprinol is no longer available in the U.S. Any suggestions on an acceptable product that won't discolor the wood?

Dan
DHN Nordstrom

Dan - The best way to keep the wood (and the sheet metal) from deteriorating is to keep the car in the garage and letting it dry out after driving in the rain. We live on the Kitsap peninsula and our TD has been an everyday driver since purchasing it in 1974. At that time, it became my wife's everyday car, used to do the shopping, cart the kids everywhere, running all sorts of errands, usually with our German Shepard with her and the kids. We have used the TD for hauling every sort of material short of gravel, even using it recently using it to bring a 16 foot stair rail home.
We have driven the car to Southern California a couple of times, plus two 5000+ mile trips around the Western US. It is still my wife's car of preference whenever she needs to run errands. Only recently (since they started putting salt on the roads for snow) that it hasn't even been used in the snow. Now it stays in the garage until after a couple of good rains before taking it (or the MGB) out after a snow.

When restoring the TD, I only had to replace one side rail, which I soaked in wood life, then Thompson's Water Seal. The rest of the wood was painted on the exposed edge with Thompson's water seal. The main thing, as stated above, the car is kept in a dry garage and allowed to dry out when not in use.

D W DuBois

Dave,

Thompson's is what I've been using around the house for years. It's a very good product, IMO. I shall take your advise and use it on the car.

Thank you.
DHN Nordstrom

Thompsons is mostly a solvent carrying wax. I believe there are better products on the market. Regards, Tom
tm peterson

Well, I have a little different way of doing it. Not saying it's any better than anyone elses methods, but I've used it for years with no regrets. Being around boats most of my early life, I tend to use marine products a lot when it comes to preserving and finishing wood. To preserve a new piece of wood that will get exposed to water, I use marine varnish thinned out to a consistency of water for a soaking mixture. Either dip the wood in a long pan of it, let it dry, dip it a second time, let it dry, then coat the piece with two coats of unthinned varnish. If the piece is too large to dip, brushing it on repeatedly will accomplish the same results, let dry and then put on the last two coats right out of the can. I've done this on boats where they set in water with excellent results, so what's so different about these cars, nothing. JMHO and experience. PJ
Paul S Jennings

I'm with Paul; I'm a varnish fan. Makes the wood look better, too. I also thin it out at least 50% so that it soaks deeply into the wood. I've never found that deck treatments work very well in wet environments, but varnish will seal the wood permanently.
Geoffrey M Baker

Paul,

Hard to argue with experience and I do live in what is considered a wet environment....Very wet. It's Seattle!

I have always been told that wood should breathe. Since my wood is all original and I cannot access all sides, it seems placing a hard seal on one, two or maybe three sides could potentially create a moisture trap. In many cases right where it mates up to the metal skin.

But you have given me more food for thought.

Thank you.
DHN Nordstrom

MinWax makes a product that soaks into the wood and stabilizes the fibres. Might be worth looking into. I saw it on their website.

...CR
C.R. Tyrell

The thing about sealing wood is, you have to make sure the wood is dry clear through. Once that is confirmed, sealing with a couple coats of very thin varnish, it will soak deeper in the wood giving it a hard finish deep enough to seal out any moisture present, then the top coats will be very glossy and hard as a rock, so to speak. I built an oak kitchen table, that we still use, 20 years ago that way and it still looks good today. Needless to say a lot of stuff has been spilled on it, hot and cold, over the years. Only problem with it is, it takes two men and a strong boy to pick it up! Grin. PJ
Paul S Jennings

Wood rot is primarily caused by fungi. Dry wood cannot rot, the term dry rot is a misnomer as moisture is necessary.

I would suggest that a preservative that has a fungicide component rather than a sealer may be a better way to go unless you can be certain that the wood is totally sealed. If you can keep it dry you have no worries.
JE Carroll

Wow,

Very good information coming forth. Now I am going to have to do a lot of contemplating.

As mentioned, my car has not seen the road for over 40 years and has remained under cover in relatively dry facility. (unheated concrete floored garage) I think it is fair to say the wood is dry. About as dry as it can get living in our rather wet/humid environment. By using an air tight sealer on only the exposed sides what effect will that have on the non exposed sides. Wood that is actually making contact with the metal.

A foot note to all this...when I was playing around with the old wood hull hydroplanes it was common practice to store the wood boats over a dirt floor to keep the wood from shrinking. Mmmmmm?

Thank you all for your advice and wisdom.
DHN Nordstrom

Wood moves with temperature, the is no product that can "seal" it...there imaybe a reason boats are fiberglass..wood moves and when it does it absorbs the moisture that is present. If you drive in the rain the wood will get wet..if it can breath it will dry out. Ask any wooden airplane owner how long he would leave his airplane tied down outside vs. keeping it hangared. Regards, tom
tm peterson

"If the piece is too large to dip, brushing it on repeatedly will accomplish the same results..."

A easy and relatively cheap way to make a trough long enough to soak the wood pieces in can be made from 4 to 6 or 8 inch plastic pipe. glue caps on both ends, then cut the pipe in half and you have two soaking troughs. Cheers - Dave
D W DuBois

This thread was discussed between 15/12/2014 and 18/12/2014

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