Lumia 830 Wooden Backcover

[andy1009]

Hey guys,

Been on windows phone since the windows mobile 6 days but I just recently upgraded my lumia 925 to a lumia 830 when I saw this one on sale. Of course, once I saw those L950 Mozo cases I became super envious of the idea of having a premium leather back.

Luckily my 830 came with a black back cover and a green one (which really isn't my taste) so I took the green one and made this:





I am by no means a woodworker but it actually worked pretty well. It looks thick in the pictures but it's really less than .5mm thicker than the OEM back cover.

Unfortunately it was so sporadic that I didn't think to take pictures along the process but I will try to explain in steps:

You'll need:

• Wood Edge Veneer (Natural *not pre-stained*)
• Hot Iron
• Wood Stain (I used black)
• Satin Wood Finish (Varathane or the like)
• Patience

1. Remove back cover from your phone :winktongue:
2. Use coarse sandpaper on the back cover to give some grooves for the glue to set in
3. Cut the veneer in 4 strips slightly longer than the back cover
4. Use the hot iron on low to melt the glue to the back cover pressing the wood and cover together with your hands or on a flat surface. Don't worry if all the sloped edges aren't completely set
5. Hammer a nail through the back microphone hole and hammer the speaker holes with a fine nail through the veneer into a soft piece of wood (to prevent splintering) or cut a slit like the OEM 830 case has. Again, don't worry if the wood separates a little, we'll fix that later.
6. Cut the camera hole and the excess veneer around the edges with a paring or exact-o knife
7. Soak in water for 1-2 minutes for a smooth back or 5-10 minutes for a rustic warped wood
8. Hot iron on high the back immediately to stop the warping and as a sort of steaming that will conform the wood around the chamfered edges of the back cover. Continue on low heat until dry and 98% is stuck to the cover.
9. Sand the wood to reduce or eliminate the remaining warped areas
10. Use wood filler in between the veneer strips and in the gap around the edges of the veneer and cover
11. Use fine sand paper on the dried filler and to the veneer to prepare for staining
12. Apply stain as per instructions on the can and as many coats as needed, drying and fine sanding in between coats (my black stain took 3 coats to darken up nicely)
13. Apply satin finish (the satin finish will feel more like the polycarbonate back and won't feel sticky where the gloss finishes will). The more coats you apply the smoother you will be able to sand the back and it will also be more durable (I had a stain/satin finish lying around the house so I killed this bird with the previous stone)

NOTE* My backcover is green underneath so I covered the green parts that were showing around the edge with a black permanent marker but there weren't really any green spots after I applied the stain.

*The wireless charging works fine and I've been using this back for about a week now with no issues from the speaker, mic or any overheating
*I would post links to the tools I used but apparently I'm not special enough for windowscentral to allow me

UPDATE (1/7/2016) Been using this for 3 months now, and it is working great! Absolutely no problems, a little bit of wear to the veneer on the corners but I think it looks better actually because it fits with the reclaimed wood look I was going for. Stay Awesome!

 

[jayruguitar]

That looks amazing!