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Making a steering wheel

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That is so sad that a guy with that much talent Dosen't live right next door to my shop. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hammer.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wall.gif
 
tom, nice work and this is a wonderful lesson your giving here i also have some very large slabs of black walnut and cherry, im planing on doing a wheel but i want to make it 1-1-1/2" smaller in diameter, im thinking the metal i use for the outside radius will be a flat piece rather then the original wire outer circle, please dont tell me you going to put rivets through that beautiful wheel. nice work! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/savewave.gif
 
Here is probably the final update until much warmer weather allows me to paint and install the wheel. I finished shaping by cutting the finger grips in with a half round file and sanding the whole thing to 320 grit. That is probably too fine for something that will get a few coats of varnish, but I wanted the stain to go on evenly. Final rim diameter is 1" wide and 1.1" deep (before finger grips). The entire wheel is right at the 16.5" diameter, same as the original bakelite wheel.

Walnut will fade in sunlight over time and there was some color variation with a little sapwood, so I gave the thing a light wash with a water-based walnut dye. The dye is made from walnut husks, so there is no doubt about the color being right and it does not obscure the grain at all. Unfortunately, the dash did not get this same treatment, so my original goal of matching the dash will not be met. And the figured wood soaked in a lot of color. It is dark (especially BCF's reprint?), but outdoors the figure will pop just fine. Then, one coat of boiled linseed oil to be followed by some spray varnish.

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Tom that is one nice piece of workmanship there I'm sure you are proud of it, good job.

bundyrum
 
Tom

That could work out to be as expensive as the car itself with all the time and effort spent. Looks fantastic. Are you taking commisions?

Only joking

Bob
 
ĂŚt's lovely Tom. Very nice work. Being a wood worker myself (I design/build acoustic guitars), and having carved a fair amount of figured walnut, I especially appreciate the effort. People might not know this but one of the hardest things to do is to space the finger indents evenly so that they are equadistant along the entire piece. That's the kind of thing I always screw up.
Well done!
Randy
'66 BJ8
'68 E-type OTS
 
Randy Harris said:
... one of the hardest things to do is to space the finger indents evenly so that they are equadistant along the entire piece. That's the kind of thing I always screw up....
Click to expand...

Uh, well, look closely and note that mine is not perfect in that regard. That's the kind of variety that my hands can search out and enjoy over a long drive. This will not look factory made, but it ought to look good enough. It might even dress up the interior enough for me to want leather seats. Nah, I already covet leather seats.

Thanks all for the nice comments. It is possible that this is my only chance at adding any knowledge to this forum. From here on out, for maybe the next 30 years, it'll be me just asking question after question. Until the installed picture, cheers.
 
tomfromstlouis, that's a beauty! just one thought, Ive done a bunch of custom stuff for boats and the customers insist on using "varnish" i think this is too labor intensive to upkeep so perhaps you might explore using a more modern final Finnish coat using something that is a bit more u.v. and scratch resistant lots of new stuff out there, just a thought, you do very nice work. :thumbsup:
 
you are truly an inspiration to us all, congratulations. Leather seats, any cows live near by...........
 
Tom,

Fabulous job! :cheers:

It almost seems odd that no one, back in the day, made a wood wheel in a matching walnut (matching the fascia), and now that you have done this it really shows how classy and upscale the whole interior becomes with all of the wood matching.

Congratulations and well done!
 
Very very nice. So classy, looks just perfect.
 
OH Man that is nice Greg, But did you know Pete @ Marina Motors made a Lathe type tool that turns the wooden rings for you he " Might " :laugh: make them for others if asked to do so.???
 
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