What is the best procedure to renovate wodden wheel?
Has anyone one good advice?
I need to sand blasting all metal parts...
You should be able to find a thread on here from when I did mine about a year ago. Since pics were posted at the time through Photobucket, they may not show up. Basically, a local hot rod restoration shop did mine - no one else wanted to touch it. Masked the wood and cleaned/gently blasted the metal. Then the spokes were sanded smooth and I had everything painted the body color (acrylic enamel) and another man pinstriped the darker green color of the car. Should be some photos of the car in the photo section.
jjohn,
I removed old paint by hand with a paint stripper, sanded; finished spokes with with spar varnish for a natural look. Metal pieces are body color. You can judge, if this method is good advice (or not!) Good luck to you.
frank
John,
Are you in need of cosmetic renovation or do you need to have the wood spokes replaced.
Chet...
Hello
No, the spokes are good, need to sandblast the metal, fix the hinges and paint the wood and metal parts.
Do you know if the spokes are glued together or how have they assembly the wheels from the beginning?
The spokes are not glued, but held together by precise milling at time of assembly with the hub and felloe. Through the years, the wood may loose moisture and become "loose" if you remove the brake drum and center hub. If you go this far, be sure to mark each spoke so you will know the exact order to re-assemble them.
Don't know original assembly process.
To get an idea how artillery wheels were made review the repair info on Calimers Wheel Shop
http://www.calimerswheelshop.com/ (http://www.calimerswheelshop.com/)
Originally the wheels were made of kiln dried hickory. As Frank stated the spokes were milled and assembled into place, then the center hole cut, the steel hubs were press fitted into place, and then the wood was allowed to absorb moisture to further swell and tighten. (Extremely Strong Wheel - Artillery Grade)
If you can easily remove the spokes your wheels should probably be rebuilt. As Frank said, if you do take them apart make sure you number the spokes so as to install them in the exact same position relative to the felloe that they were removed from.
My two cents, Chet...
Coker Tire makes replacement wood wheels now as well. They have a how its made video on the page link below.
https://www.cokertire.com/wooden-wheels#