What kind of finish are you going to use?

 

Looking good. Will even look better when it has a couple of coat of finish on it.

 

Minwax Red Mahogany stain/sealer, then several coats of Minwax UV resistant clear gloss poly or varnish (marine grade).

The fit allows the chrome outer (1/16") ring to show. My original dash bezel is worn real bad, so I may order a replacement after its all together.

Still have to order the indicator lights ( High beam and turns)

 

I found my bezel on ebay from Dennis Carpenter outlet. Was about half price.

 

looks real good...can't wait to see it installed!

 

Here is the finished dash. But still need to do work on the bezel, it show it's age. I have a close up in my gallery showing the wood grain better.

 

I didn't use the original bezel in mine, didn't like the plastic bezel part of it...built them before. On this truck, I restructured the opening and did a bit of welding and fabricating, then made the gauge panel out of aluminum and mounted Autometer gauges.. I also did away with the padded dash and went with the steel dash, filled all the holes and deleted the radio and ashtray cutouts. Didn't like the idea of having any plastic parts on an otherwise solid old steel truck... Pics in my gallery if you're interested.

 

blue 68,
That instrument cluster looks great. Gotta love real wood.

 

Thanks you, 1 down and to may to count. It took alot of time to fit the crazy compound curves in the corners. I need to add the turn and highbeam indicators when ever I place another order and that will finish it out.

I have almost completed a set of black walnut arm rest.

I'm going to make a dashpad too, but haven't decided weather I want natural wood or leather. In any event I'm upgrading the defrost vents and adding speakers to the corners.

 

Dash looks great Blue!

Nice center console Dave! Am I mistaken or dit it start life out as an oil pan?

 

I have to say I have been working with wood for over Six years now, and that looks very sharp!! I have had experience with complex angles and I believe it when you said it took over six hours to conquer the angles. The guages almost look like my great grandfathers A.M. radio with tubes an all!! I bet you can't wait to show it off to all your friends, installed!!!!
P.S. what else is custom on your truck? pics always inspire guys to new creations!!

 

Big-red, The AutoMeter Golden Oldie gages have domed lenses, giving them a different look. I forgot about the reflective light coming from all angels. Being recessed they will be fine. I used my dad's shopsmith to do most of the work. The tilt table made it easier to cut the angles. I have just stated the paint and body work. Which will be redone with metalic paint, inside and out, (blue over wht, 2 tone, white top). This was the ranger package with all of the moldings, upper and lower. The engine has been redone, and I have another mod coming to it. I'm adding electric door locks, tired of walking around the truck to lock and unlock. I'm trying to keep the outside stock with updated paint and wheels. The interior will be a custom, still haven't completely decided on all I'm going to do. Have a new wiring harness going in to handle the electric devices. Having a bad back, I'm only able to work 2-3hr /day. So its a project, when I finish I finish, but my first goal is to get the paint work done inside and the cab so I can start putting it back together. I'm taking plenty of pictures to document every thing as I go.