VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 Wood wheel spokes

Anybody know of a good place to get replacement wood wheel spokes, i'm starting to collect some needed parts for my 27 Capital resto project. I would like to get them in Canada if i can to save on the duty,shiping & exchange rate. I,m close to the New York border for a U.S. sorce. Can these be made in a wood working shop if so what is the best type of hard wood to use?

Thanks! Terry Goode in Ottawa Can.

Hi Capital 27,

The best man available to do your wheels is Jim Kanne in West Linn, Oregon. I realize that is a fur piece from your location, but his work may be worth the extra cost.

If you need further information you may contact me by email.

Hollo Ray i would like to buy the spokes if i can & install them in my shop. I have a number of old cars that i have restored but i have never had one with wooden wheels & i'm not sure what i'm getting into here. Thanks

You might try locating an Amish buggy shop. Someone around Wooster, Ohio might be of some help. You might try contacting Holmes County, Ohio. I know there are shops in Holmes County that will do it but I don't know names of addresses. I was in one of the shops on tour several years ago.

See you down the Back Roads.

The best wood to use is Hickory. Some use oak but it is too brittle to make good spokes. The '27 and earlier spokes are round so can be made on a wood lathe.

Check out St. Jacobs and area (Ontario) to see if there is a buggy shop or one of the local mennonites willing to do the work.

I never even though about a Amish buggy shop, there is one in Stratford Ontario about 200 miles from here. The say that the Mennonites are very nice people & it looks they do a nice job restoring there buggies. I will check them out. Thanks for the info.

Terry

Hi Capital 27,

I would suggest you contact Jim Kanne by email at ( JIM ).

I do not know if he sells the spokes, but I know he does the complete job.

Terry
I'm not sure what was what in Canada, but assume they were pretty similar to those here in Aust. as our cars came out of Canada.
Before you go getting wood spokes made, you must know whether your car is an early 27 or a late 27 as the early cars had round spokes as mentioned in another reply, but the late 27's had oval spokes the same as the 28
Chris

Hollo all please correct if i am wrong, from the info i got on a web site the 1927 chev U.S. built had the steel wheels & the Can. built carried on with the wood wheels from the 1926 year. In 1928 Canada went with the steel wheels or were they oval spokes? & the Capital was only made in 1927. Now while i'm on the topic of wood wheels my steering wheel is in nice shape except it is all in pieces at the finger joints, i plan to sand the joints clean, put some wood glue on it then clamp it together. I see no problem doing this unless there is a worpage concern, any sugestions? Thanks

Terry
currently Im doing a 1928 coupe (canadian car)
my little amount of knowledge re canadian cars is that the wood spokes were standard in canada and the steel wheels were optional and vica versa in the states
I am no expert so if i am mistaken someone on this site will correct me (Id hope anyway)
If you wish to contact me (Im in ontario aswell) email me at 4cylchevs@xcelco on.ca

38653 AKA Dave

In Australia, we had three options for wheels in 28
1st. painted wood spoke wheels (officialy called 'artilary wheels')
2nd. clear lacquered wood spoke wheels
3rd. disc (solid steel)
Remember that here in Aus. we had about 10,000 tourers (touring in US lingo)and only about 500 closed cars.
I believe that in US (where the closed cars outnumbered the open cars by about 10:1) that disc wheels were the standard supplied wheels with wood spoke an option only
Hope this throws some light on the issue
Chris