Restoring steering wheel from broken pieces.

[Model "A" Fords]

This is not a "how to" but how I did it story.

I restored a couple 1930 Model A Ford steering wheels using broken pieces from original wheels. The pieces were reduced to powder by feeding them into a bench grinding wheel after first cleaning the area of debris. The clean powder was collected for use in the repairs.

Next the wheel to be restored was prepared by using a die grinder to cut the cracked area out and leave a clean surface for bonding. A few drops of Crazy glue gel was put in the prepared spot and the powder was sprinkled on top and pressed in. After the glue set the remaining powder was brushed off and more glue was added, sprinkled with more powder, pressed in and repeated until the area was higher than the surrounding surface. Now the surplus hard resin was reduced to the correct height and shape using files, die grinder or other abrasives to blend with original. Once the shaping was finished the surface was smoothed using fine sandpaper then the whole wheel surface was blended with Scotch Bright. This made it look like the original dull finish

I was pleased to hear when some people thought I tricked them using an original perfect wheel. If that were the case it would have saved a lot of time. All was great until someone pointed out that this hub had a spline and I needed a keyway hub. Lots was learned and another wheel would have to be restored for my car.

With all this fine new experiences the original wheel from my car was chosen for the next project. This one had less than half the resin left on it but with my beautiful test piece behind me I got started. I prepared the wheel and started the gluing and powder pressing routine. It went good to start with until doing too much at a time the Crazy glue overheated and had to be removed and redone. It turned out better to do small areas at a time and work in spots away from the fresh ones.

I soon realized that one glue package didn't go far so I bought a half a dozen packs next time. It turned out to be a lot of next times and once finished about two hundred dollars was spent on glue and a few months used up. Well it turned out beautiful and now ready for fine point judging without even putting any extra coatings or finishes on.

During my restoration I dropped the wheel two feet from my work area onto the concreate floor. You can imagine the shock and disbelief of this impromptu test while watching it bounce a few times before being able to grasp it with one hand. I just cringed to think of starting fresh. To my amazement there was nothing wrong with it. Even after finishing it I dropped it again. I was so amazed that I banged it a few more times just to see if it was real and all was good!
When the restoration was finished I became aware that "Crazy" was printed in front of "glue" and probably was referring to myself. I now know why people paint the wheel and sprinkle a bit graphite for the look and feel!

There is a lot of information here on the Ford Barn. Before starting work read some of the this great info and you could possibly save on some heart breaking work.