Steering Wheel

Beautiful Job, Dave!!

Really great looking jig for the laminate trimmer, too!

Thanks Lew. That jig was made on the fly from scraps and when into the burn box after I was done with it. It worked well enough but I think I’d make it differently next time.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Very interesting project. The circle cutting jig is a clever idea.
I like the finished wheel very much. I wish to be able to make one for my shop’s door decor.

Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed viewing all the pics.

Take care and work safe.

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

Great post. Lots of useful information. Beautiful craftsmanship. Thanks for sharing!

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

Beautiful job!!!!!

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

Wow Very nice you have photo’s for the boat you built?? Very nice craftsmanship

-- Doc Hanson - www.ripnchisel.com

Thank you all.

For Hap, here are a few pictures of the boat.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Neat boat, great wheel and a really good tutorial. Thanks, Dave

-- Thos. Angle

A beautiful boat, & very well crafted.

You did a great job of showing how you made the wheel.

Excellent pictures, & thanks for sharing.

Now that you broke the ice with your first project, I’ll be looking forward to some more.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Thanks for the tutorial. All very clever and beautiful to boot.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

Thank you all.

Dick and Barb, don’t be holding your breath now. ;)

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Fine craftsmanship in all aspects. I hope you made that wheel an extra cost option.

-- Joe

Great work! Hopefully, one day you can redo another one and take all the photos in sequence and post them here so we can make our own door decor! Thank you for sharing.

-- The time I enjoy wasting is not time wasted

This morning I had a question or two about my circle cutting jig for this wheel. I made a very quick sketch because as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I don’t know that my pictures are worth that much. I expect mine would stop a thousand clocks. :) Anyway…

First I should say I made my jig on the fly and so it sort of evolved as I was making the wheel. I didn’t spend a lot of time on it and certainly didn’t get all fancy and presentable like those jigs in the magazines. Still, it did the job.

So here’s the sketch. I made a little sub base for the laminate trimmer so that I had something to catch with the rails on the sides of the jig. It was a snug fit with no slop. I used a wood screw driven through the rail into the sub base to hold it in place. I also made little gauge blocks out of scrap plywood for when I had to return to a setting.

After screwing around to set the first radius—the inside radius of the inner felloes since they were made first—I made a mark, indicated in red in the sketch, that corresponded to a corner of the sub base. Then I measure down the jig a distance equal to the desired next radius plus the diamter of the bit (1/4” in this case) and made a mark. Then I moved the router down and drove the screw in again to lock it.

When I made the outer felloes, I set the inside radius by measuring from the mark for the inside radius of the inner felloes. For this setting there is no need to include the bit diameter since we’re working on the same side of the bit. To get the outside diameter of the outer felloes I measured back from the outer diameter mark for the inner felloes.

For the outer felloes, since there are two of them that must be cut, I placed scraps of plywood under the guide rails and screwed them in place to create stops. So there was no measuring when making the second outer ring.

I hope all that makes sense.

Dave

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Ah, a gaffer and with tanbark sails. You just made your way into being one of my buddies! Very cool. The silhouette of your yacht looks really familiar… who drew your plans? What boat are you building now?

-- There's no tool like an old tool...

Hi Tex and thank you.

That boat is a Stevenson Weekender although I modified it a bit with a taller mast and squared off cabin front.

I wish I was building a boat right now. considering the lack of space in my shop currently I expect the next boat willl be Iain Oughtred’s Feather Pram. There’s a long list of nboats I’d love to do but not nearly enough time, money or space.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Wow Dave that is fantastic!

-- Michael A. Brailsford

Thanks for posting this project. I’ve never seen construction photos of a wheel. It was interesting to read.

Thank you guys.

One thing that is traditional on a steering wheel of this sort is to add some stringing around the outer felloes. I decided this wheel is too small for that. On larger wheels, the screws that attach the outer felloes to the inner ones are hidden below the stringing.

Another thing missing in the images is the turk’s head on the king spoke. The king spoke is the spoke in the twelve o’clock position when the rudder is amidships. Here’s the turk’s head on the original wheel.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Looks great! Looks like a fun boat too!

Thanks for the post, great detail. A beautiful wheel.

-- ...it's rennovation time!!!

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed spending time on this page! Great work! Love your ships wheel. Thank you for sharing you talents with us.

-- My shop teacher said "You can do it".... Now I can't stop!