Ron Miller

Another "Thank You" to 69red for providing the go-by instructions and photos that inspired me and apparently others to build their own original style teak wheels. I, for one, would probably never attempted the project had I not seen the fixtures and methodology provided in 69red's excellent write-up.

Actual build time was quite short, spent more time waiting on supplies and tools I had to source/order than in the actual build. I'll offer a couple of tips that might help someone else who might be considering a similar project . . . . .

1. I ordered the rosewood banding from Stewart-McDonald, the luthier supply guys who do a lot of custom guitar and similar instrument construction and repair. The rosewood I purchased was 3/8" width, 0.100 thickness, and just short of 36" length. Three pieces will suffice, and one piece has to be cut in the middle and spliced into each of the two remaining to get sufficient length to do the wheel inner and outer inlay. I ordered the teak for the rim from E-Bay, 1x2 rough sawn pieces about 19 inches in length. I also pre-bent the rosewood banding using a hot air gun from Harbor Freight, blowing hot air into a short section of steel pipe that I rigged here at home. May not have had to pre-bend this thickness, but I felt better about trying to glue and keep it in place by doing so . . . . .

2. Once the two halves were epoxied together, I divided and marked the back of the wheel into 54 equal spaces, starting at the bottom spoke. This spacing provides for the proper spacing of the finger grooves, omitting two grooves at each of the three wheel spokes (54 - 6 = 48 finger grooves). 22 upper grooves plus 13 plus 13 lower grooves, again = 48 total. In my case, I located the markings such that the grooves would fall between each pair of lines, allowing me more ability to control the location of each groove, as the lines were visible on each side of the half-round file while working.

3. I filed the depth of the grooves to be about 1/8" deep, about as accurately as I could determine the depth of the plastic wheel grooves. This gave me a good "feel" to the wheel, and appearance wise looks as near the original wheel groove depth as I could determine. I didn't have an original to measure.

4. I finished mine with three light coats of gloss Minwax urethane applied within 1 1/2 hours of each other before allowing the wheel to dry 72 hours for light sanding. After sanding, I followed up with two more light coats of the same urethane for the final finish. I like the look!

Mine is not and was not intended to be a Bloomington judged teak wheel as it is readily apparent that it is not original. However, it is in my opinion a great looking teak wheel in the style of the original, my opinion, yours may vary. As you can see, I also treated myself to a new horn button for the new wheel. Just couldn't see putting my old button back into the center of a nice new looking wheel.

Thanks again to 69red, appreciate it much. This is a GREAT forum!!!



http://s32.photobucket.com/user/rlmi...kpw4k.jpg.html

morly1963

Looks GREAT! You have real talent.

ACCURATE

Very nice job ,, you should be very proud ..

65Bob-bo

What a craftsman. Looks fabulous.

vettebuyer6369

Beautiful work.

bigearl56

WTG Ron, Very nice and looks great.

Earl

dahogan

mrg

Ron ..
Very nice. .. Beautiful end result.
John

capevettes

Very nice job You are a craftsman

Ron Miller

Thanks for the kind comments guys. I was helped immensely by 69red's "How to" article that he posted and to use of the Jasper router circle cutter that he highlighted in the article. I'll graciously accept 10% of the credit, but truthfully the remaining 90% of the credit should go to 69red's instructions and to proper tools!

Thanks again!!

Bluestripe67

First class work! I love looking at detail wood craftsmenship work. Dennis

JackTripper

KC John

I'd really appreciate a link to that article from 69red. Thanks.

Never mind I found it.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ood-wheel.html

aclassicnut

VERY NICE! That would look great on any one's car. Really sets your interior off

ILBMF

Good lookin' work there

Ron Miller

Thanks Guys, appreciate the vote of confidence, but I just don't think I'm up to it at this point. I'd recommend locating a local woodworker and sharing 69red's article with him. I feel sure someone with woodworking experience and a little time would be more than capable of building the wheel, especially if you offered to source the teak, rosewood, and a donor Corvette wheel.

I think there are still folks in business of building these that may be on the forum, maybe someone on the forum knows of someone . . . . . not sure if Eric Freeman is still in business or not, but I think he may have retired from building the wheels . . . . . .

Thanks again!

Ron

KC John

If I could source a donor wheel for a good price I would attempt making them. I've been building furniture for years and I'm sure I can do it. I was thinking about making one out of walnut, but the core I have is not round and I'm still using it.

Ron Miller

If you've built furniture, I'm certain you could do it as well. The circle cutting attachment for the router for me was the key to success on this project. The tool will allow you to cut a perfect circle from 7" to 18" in diameter, and is incremented by 1/16 of an inch all the way between. So, after cutting the outside and inside of the wheel, just notch it back (or out as the case may be) by 1/16 inch to cut the groove for the rosewood inlay. Then, notch it to the center of the rim to cut the groove for the 3/8" diameter rod on the original donor wheel.

You do need a good donor, or one that can be reasonably straightened, but I've seen several cracked plastic wheels in the past years for $100 or less, should be some still available.

Go for it!!

TheSaint

That is for sure a nice looking teatk wheel

vettebuyer6369

Close for review

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Guys, if you have had posts removed from this thread, it's because they were involving soliciting business from a Non Supporting Vendor or promoting one or both of the Non Supporting vendor businesses that usually come up in these threads.

These are common issues that come up in teak wheel threads. Please keep your posts relevant to the amazing work and craftsmanship displayed here. This is a cool DIY thread and I want to keep it open and active; thanks very much.