Kwik Poly Wood Repair for Auto Restoration
Submitted by Auto Restoration 101 Blog
Most of cars built from the 1900’s up into the 1930’s used wood either as a reinforcement or as the main source of strength. The majority of coach built cars were built out of wood and then skinned with steel or aluminum. If you are restoring a car that was built using wood than you will want to know about this product.
I first used this product when I was restoring a 1936 Bentley. It was built with a wood frame and then skinned with aluminum. Most of the wood was in great shape but there were some areas that were a little dry rotted. You mix the Kwik Poly and then brush it or pour it onto the wood. The wood acts like a sponge and soaks it up. When the Kwik Poly sets up the wood is restored to better than new.
Kwik Poly is basically a two part plastic that when cures can be drilled, sanded and painted just like wood. It also has hundreds of other uses which you can visit their website and read all about.
For wood it works best at first to mix it without any fillers and brush it or pour it onto the wood. The wood soaks it up and becomes stable. Then after the wood is stable you can add the filler that they supply or a number of other fillers. I most often use sawdust when repairing wood.
This is a piece of wood on a 1929 Rolls Royce body that I repaired. The wood has been brushed with Kwik Poly without any filler. The Kwik Poly is very watery without any filler. Without adding filler it sets up within minutes so you have to work fast. Also you do not want to mix up very much or it will be wasted. I only mix up about a half an ounce at a time. In liquid state a half of an ounce of this stuff goes really far. I use the cheap metal handle acid brushes just in case I don’t get the brush cleaned up in time before it sets up.
This is the right door jamb on the same Rolls Royce. As you can see I have filled a corner of the jamb that was missing. After it dried it was filed and sanded smooth. Notice the entire jamb is wood with the aluminum skin nailed on.
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