Here is a shot of the surgery:
I got the new roof slats made out of maple, about 30 of them so I have a few extra. I ripped up some 15/16 inch maple to width I've been hoarding and then book matched them in two on a bandsaw. Then thru the planer they went, repeatedly. Still am waiting on a beading router bit to round over the edges.
I also brought one of the panels to a paint store and they matched some stain for me. Nice match. The newly stained one is on the left is a practice stain on a bad slat and the old one on the right.
The old slats are quarter sawn wood. Looks like old growth fir to me but probably basswood. And looks like they were stained dark as they are very dark on the top under the canvas. All the top ribs and slats looked pretty dark and discolored to me. The old ribs had lots of cracked/checked black varnish on them. The slats looked like they were stained and not varnished. The new slats will match the outside wood in color and be varnished. I'll freshen up the old ribs to match as well. The restored woodies I've seen all have had the slats match the outside wood. Apparently not according to Henry. And not according to me either. I don't obsess over 100% originality. Guy that sold me the car thought the roof was original. The slats look original to me and the canvas/vinyl might also be, who knows!
Also have fixed one of the tailgate posts. The one on the right still has the rabbit someone cut for hinges or ? that are awfully ugly. I took the post off and ripped about 1/4 inch off the edge and replaced it with some thin maple and then stained to match on the left. The match is looking pretty good to me. I had to use a little technique to get the right color. Wipe off too much stain and the color goes away. So I painted it on and let it half dry and then carefully smoothed it out. I lost some grain but got the color right. The old growth maple didn't have much grain anyway. I was very careful to drill a hole in the new edge and glue it aligned with the old latch hole. I want it to fit like before I took it off!
