Spoke Finish

[Guest BobD735]

I'm in the process of having new hickory spokes made and installed into all four of my wheels.

I plan to keep the spokes natural, and treat them with a light stain, and protect them with varnish.

Any suggestions regarding the stain and varnish to use?

Thank you,

Bob

[Larry Schramm]

I used polyurethane on mine for the finish. I do not think the type of stain matters?

[Tom M]

I will be watching for answers myself on this one here. See the wood spokes on my car are painted as of now but I will be stripping them and was hoping to go to the natural look also as long as mine are in decent shape to do that if not I will paint.

Thanks

[nickelroadster]

It's not really necessary to use any kind of stain. The natural finish of hickory looks very nice when done this way. It is best to use a epoxy sealer before the finish coat. Restoration Supply has several different kinds such as kwik-poly, and those made by West and SMith and company. Doing this seals up the pores in the wood. This is a really good product to use with any kind of woodwork. If sealer is not used, the wood tends to really soak the finish in. A polyurethane is ok as long as it is exterior grade. If you use an automotive clear coat, it can be done in one step and will last a long time.

As for stripping the wheels and giving a natural finish, this is also not a problem as long as every last bit of paint is stripped off. The epoxy sealers are quite good to be used under paint also.

[Mark Shaw]

I agree with Nickelroadster that stain is not necessary. However, epoxy may cause problems down the road. Epoxy is very hard and can trap moisture in un-coated areas in the wheel felloe. The end grain areas under the hubs and spoke ends must also be coated to minimize a future dry-rot problem.

I had my wood wheels blasted with greensand and used spar varnish on the raw wood because it is made to expand and contract with the wood. They look great and can be re-varnished every few years to renew the finish just like a wood boat.

My 2 cents....

[Guest BobD735]

Hi,

Thanks guys for your inputs. I really appreciate them. I feel more confident now about tackling my spoke finish.

Bob

[jrbartlett]

If you disassemble the wheels, make sure that the spokes are numbered. They may have been numbered from the factory -- if not, then number them yourself. Be sure you reassemble them in the same order. Also, don't mix the spokes from different wheels. And I would reassemble them into their original positions in relation to each rim.

My brother disassembled some Cadillac wheels in order to varnish the spokes (it was far easier doing it this way). On three wheels the spokes were numbered consecutively, and those wheels were straight. The fourth wheel contained multiple spokes with duplicate numbers, and was apparently assembled from leftovers from other wheels (maybe in the 1960s during an earlier restoration). He was unable to get the fourth wheel as straight as the others, despite trying various arrangements of the spokes.

Other readers may have additional information to share on this.

[nickelroadster]

Mark,

The epoxy sealer that I am recommending is not regular epoxy. It is a very thin, water like sealer that is designed to be used to repair slightly rotted wood (commonly in boats). The Smith system which is my favorite, actually forms a molecular bond with the wood and has extreme penetrating power. This is in part to an extremely long cure time. Smith and Co. claims that it renders the wood almost impervious to rot as the cellulose is encapsulated and no longer available for the little organisms to munch on. In addition the epoxy sealer allows the paint to have the highest coefficient of adhesion of just about any material, either using automotive clearcoat or spar varnish. The clearcoat would probably be a bit more durable but would also be more expensive and require a higher level of painting skills and equipment. Spar varnish could be applied with a brush whereas the clear would require a gun. Either one will work over an epoxy sealer.

Wood wheels that are too dry are often times shrunk and have joints that are loose. Back in the day, some people would drive their cars into a creek in or to moisturize and tighten the spokes back up. This was an attempt to replace the natural moisture in the wood rather than keep the wheels damp which probably would have promoted some kind of rot.

I find it a little hard to believe that the epoxy sealer would cause the wood to rot. I think that the opposite would in fact be true, even if not every last bit of wood on the spokes and felloes were treated. It seems to me that leaving these spaces untreated would still allow the wood to breath and reach equilibrium without getting too dry.

The sealer is not a glue and will not glue all the pieces together. Incidentally some people are under the impression that if they glue the wheels togehter they will have really good wheels. Wrong! Wheels should be held together by themselves not by any kind of glue. If you have loose spokes, they should be tightened by mechanical means not by any kind of glue.

These epoxy sealers are also very good to use on the woodwork of your body. They will, once again, stop any kind of rot and will also guard against warpage. It is a very useful product that has many, many uses. I have never had any bad expeiences with and have used it for many years. If you have had any specific instances of epoxy causing some kind of problems, I would love to hear about them. Always looking to learn something.

In closing, there is more than one way to get a job done and there are ususally several different ways to do a job well as well as many ways to do it wrong. We have much better materials today than they ever had in the old days and we might as well take advantage of them. Good luck and be prepared to spend a lot of time and effort if you want a good job.

[Mark Shaw]

Nickelroadster,

My point was to seal all wood areas. Any unsealed areas can allow moisture to penetrate the wood from rain, washing, etc.. Since the epoxy seals the wood surface, it can cause dry rot by accumulating this moisture at the interface between the wood and the epoxy.

[nickelroadster]

Mark,

The epoxy sealer does not have a definite interface between the sealer and the untreated wood. It actually travels into the wood as far as you continue to feed it in. If you wish, you can actually treat all of the wood within a couple of inches of the area of application. Many people might think using it is a little overkill as you can get a fine job in other ways, it still is probably the best way to get something to last a very long time. I have't had things that I have used it on for thirty or forty years, but I have had things that I have used for ten with no visisble signs of deterioration. Try it , I think you will be impressed.

[1929Chrysler]

I would think that using an epoxy sealer would limit the natural expansion and contraction of the wood since it soaks in and physically becomes one with the wood. We have to remember that these spokes are probably not going to be subjected to the harsh weather conditions of yesteryear and that might be a bit of over kill. I have used spar varnish with great success. Just my opinion..

Dan

[Mark Shaw]

Dan,

I agree. Spar Varnish works just fine and can easily be refinished down the road... I have used it on all my wood wheels.