Tiger Wood, The Wheel n Dash

C

Cameron Crockett

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CAT Member
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I'm getting into my Tiger project and one of the things I have been looking at is the wood steering wheel and dash. Mine is pretty good but a new one would be better - and I'm kinda set up for wood. I cant believe they are getting $450 for a new dash. Anyway - Ive got a 3 axis CNC machine setup for wood. I could re-pop these with one push of the go button after I'm jigged up. I'd like to do a solid wood rather than laminated and I'm not sure about how many deviations there might be. So i guess the question is if there is interest in having some of these made for club members? I would need a an example of a wood steering wheel to prototype from but for the dash and the steering wheel I could do them in matching wood of any type, just unfinished. Thoughts?
 
A solid burled wood dash will crack badly and fall apart. You have laminate the burled wood to a hardwood plywood.
 
More Ditto

Wood cells ,except for certain boa species, behave in a directional manner. The object of a laminate is to help control the expansion & contraction, add strength, etc. So to add to Duke's comment, a one piece critter will have a very short lifespan . . . .3 cents worth
 
I would be interested in an exact blank I could veneer. $450 is high on those dashes, although they ARE perfect. And for the none purist, they come with a cubby door in matched continuos veneer.
 
I could do veneers just as easily - just hate the cheap look. Solid stock that is kiln dried should never warp or crack. It's like any table top. The secret to stabilization is to seal all edges, front and back of the material. Specifically the end grain cannot be allowed to breath or it will soak up moisture like a straw and bend. Be cool to have a matched grain glove compartment door also?
 
Epoxy

Or good ol varnish? Add that to the decision matrix. The dash on my car is a Prestige named product according to the guru's. The epoxy is prone to chipping near the edges. If I ever do over it'll be in the best marine varnish I can find. The older the better as the newly formulated low VOC stuff is not as good and does not have the UV stabilizers as well. IDK if the epoxy was ever really designed for the sunlight exterior exposure. There is a UK Tiger thread or two that should be on your reading list too.
 
Cameron Crockett said:
I could do veneers just as easily - just hate the cheap look.
Click to expand...

Mine looks like a museum piece.

249459_1768526178586_6926996_n.jpg


Made by Prestige Autowood in CA. http://www.prestigeautowood.com/austin_gallery.htm

http://youtu.be/o9WB9HNmzvU
 
Duke

If you have a taste for wooden boats and their varnish you'd say epoxy is adequate. :)

In a production cost mode you can't compare the cost of epoxy to varnish either. IDK what they use but since you are close to Long Beach Harbor check the West Marine and Boaters World by Alamitos Bay.


On a side note if you find an old growth Estate sale pick em for the varnish, the bottles of R12 cause they thank you for saving them a trip to the haz mat pick up and you get it for free!:cool:

PS My red bezel warning light is sun bleached. I am concerned that a edge chip will result if I bother removing it to then remove the chrome escutcheon and rotate the red plastic goodie as it is only bleached on one side. I think I'll cheat with a felt marker :0
 
Wood dash...

When I purchased my Mark II in 1978 in Longmont, Colorado.. I worked for Frontier Airlines (the original Frontier... not the one that flies now days). In the department where I worked, I was fortunate to have a fellow by the name of Peter Berdy as an associate. His father was a conservator at a Denver museum, specializing in restoration of furniture and wooden items.

Well, Peter saw my dash (which needed a lot of work) and said "I can restore that." Apparently, he had picked up a lot of the skills his father had as far as restoration of wooden items is concerned.

As a result, my dash is a restored original. I think it still looks pretty good more than 34 years later!

jvk7.jpg


Bill Waite
Grand Rapids, MI
 
Last edited:
How to post larger than 1200 pixel.?

cobrakidz said:
wow--that picture is life size.....looks good.
Click to expand...

Won't need to do this, but bigger is sometimes necessary. I often do a multistory resize process to post. P. I. T. A.

And... Great story and beautiful dash!
 
Thanks... I just realized I posted the original by mistake. Changed it to a smaller version.

Bill
 
My question was sincere...

Can you tell me what format (jpg, jiff, etc) and what dimensions of the origin file? There are times when the limit is too small. Thanks, Derek.
 
Sorry, I didn't focus on the headline... wasn't aware of the question.

What I did originally was post a .jpg photo (that is "upload" a photo) to Image Shack (a free photo hosting site). At first, I uploaded the "original" photo which was very large (3.69 MB... 4272 X 2848 pixels). I then went back and grabbed the link for a smaller version form Image Shack.

Below, I have uploaded to Image Shack an even larger (8+ MB) .jpg photo of my Mark II...

zid0.jpg


As you can see... the forum allows me to post such a huge photo, using this approach. Normally, I use a "resizing" option they offer... with the result you see below (much smaller size photo.. in this case a 1600 X 1200 pixel version):

zid0.jpg


Hope that answers your question...

Regards,

Bill
 
Oil bases varnish is cool and you can still get it at commercial paint vendors like smiths paint here in LBC. It's tough to finish with a high gloss. I prefer clear lacquer -works great with UV exposure and you can build it up to a high gloss. Is there any demand for steering wheel wood pieces? I was thinking of doing one with a bit more detail than stock - or is that blasphemous?
 
Reproduction pieces

Cameron Crockett said:
Oil bases varnish is cool and you can still get it at commercial paint vendors like smiths paint here in LBC. It's tough to finish with a high gloss. I prefer clear lacquer -works great with UV exposure and you can build it up to a high gloss. Is there any demand for steering wheel wood pieces? I was thinking of doing one with a bit more detail than stock - or is that blasphemous?
Click to expand...
Cameron there is a demand for steering wheel wood pieces. To convert non wooden steering wheel. (Try to match as close as possible to origional wooden steering wheel):)
 
Pieces

One guy has carved out a niche in steering wheels Ken Corbin in Colorado. His work is on Alpine site. I have not seen one in person. I have a core for you and can share a link or page to the old Tigers Utd. hub restoration. I like the big diameter wheel. The idea of a glue together kit would be awesome. Not sure what the ebony stripe is made of or how it's applied. Most of the steering wheels sold in "fixer" condition sell on eBay for more than Ken's restored wheels. Look fwd to seeing the Cat bird at the auto x:)
 
Inside Prestige Autowood

I thought this would be of interest to the online 'panel'...

Yesterday I stopped by Prestige Autowood and met with Randy, the proprietor. First impressions mean a lot.
A: He's a good guy that excels at his craft and remains interested in the finished product.
B: His shop begets his success and history.

I've spent time around only a few boats, but a number of woodshops, skateboards and surf (windsurf) shaping and glassing shops.

Randy has the right shop with the right tools and the right experience. Is it possible that other methods may in fact improve upon his work? Possibly, lots of new chemicals often out perform older ones, etc.

But I can say, as a fact, none of us are going to build a dash with the extensive processing and care that he will. Just won't happen. An example, his temp / humidity chamber that he uses both for the lamination process and the curing of finishes. Can't do this at home, even if home is a boatyard. Various steps, some even between layers.

He had dozens of various British marque dash panels in states of completeness. Of biggest interest, of course, were the 16 or so Tiger specific panels currently in process. The process takes weeks even if he rushes it, which won't happen for a number of reasons.

This was somewhat unfortunate in my case, because I wanted to have a dash...soon. And the 16+ are already spoken for.

Nevertheless, we came to an agreement and I'm sure to be pleased with the final product.

It's really just crazy lucky and convenient to have so many great sources of Sunbeam parts and service so close by. I'm not meaning to be persnickity, it's just great to find top quality stuff AND be able to spend locally at the same time.

Left picture. Only one quarter of the single worker shop shown, you'll see stack of Tiger dashes on right bench, some completed other types on left; all kept within a tidy, eclectic auto paraphernalia ridden shop. Middle: The original MKIA dash over Prestige repro. Right: closer up of new. NOTE: The dash is unfinished, has not gone through final sanding passes and full polishing. Some differences can / will be found. This affords all of you the right to spot and nitpick now... ;-) And if you're harsh enough, maybe I'll change my mind.. Or...

One or more differences may just possibly be MIA at installation...

Derek
 
I've got one of Randy's dashboards in my car and it's still gorgeous "after all these years." Mine has the cubby door. Couldn't care less that it's not "original." It adds greatly to the expanse of gorgeous wood. :)

On the other hand, I did the resto of the steering wheel. One of my better efforts, but extremely labor-intensive.
 
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