laheyth Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 (edited) I am restoring a 1914 Overland The existing dash/ firewall is 3/4 ply wood, and clearly homemade.I have some 4/4 cherry that might look good, but what is the correct dash?Did they have plywood in 1913?If glued up boards, should the joints be vertical? Edited August 7, 2011 by laheyth cant spell or type (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Layden B Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Model T Fords of the era were made of vertical planks with one layer of veneer on each side with grain horizontal. Pretty standard for the times I believe. Use plywood! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 I have 2 Buick trucks that I believe the firewall is original and both use plywood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EMF-Owner Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 I am using plywood for the dash in my E-M-F, but I am cutting out the edges and gluing in some solid wood so I can run screws in to the edge to hold on the trim. Screws don't tend to like to grab into the end of a piece of plywood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenHupp20 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Plywood has been around for a long time .If you have trouble with threads holding,the holes can be over drilled oversize and filled with epoxy.Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdome Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Go to a real lumber yard (not a big box warehouse) and ask for solid core plywood. Solid core is made up of solid layers of wood and you should have no problems screwing into the ends. You will need to seal up the ends with a good epoxy wood sealer to prevent rain water from wicking in the ends. Marine grade plywood, if you can find it, is the same as the old plywood used for dashboards. "Baltic Burch" plywood as another good solid core plywood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhb1999 Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Marine grade plywood, if you can find it, is the same as the old plywood used for dashboards.Marine plywood costs more than standard plywood, I don't know if they would have used it on automobiles back then or not, if plywood was available in 1914. I know they used plywood in building of PT boats during WW2, Three companies built them Higgins, Elco, and Huckins. I worked for Huckins(1978-1990) located in Jacksonville, FL. Regular marine plywood is made from the BEST Douglas Fir, and there should be NO CORE VOIDS, it has to be because it used for putting new bottoms on certain wooden boats. Plywood that says EXTERIOR is not marine, look for the "AA" grade. As to where to find it these places comes to mind try www.jamestowndistributors.com and www.westmarine.com and www.glen-l.com (but I'm sure there are others) be specific in ordering because thicknesses could be in standard or metric. They also carry the imported Bruynzeel line from Holland the very best,(they actually make a marine plywood where all the plys are mahogany) the problem with the Bruynzeel is it's probably going be in millimeters. OR go to a boatyard that does boat carpentry/ joinerwork repairs/alterations on yachts they should have marine ply. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve Hughes Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 There was a great thread on the Model T Ford Club of America forum a while back that showed the steps a guy used to fabricate the dashboard for his 1911 Model T. This guy really did it right. I am posting a link. You should check it out.Model T Ford Forum: Finally completed a 1911 dashboardHope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhb1999 Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 The resawing can be finished using a band saw and the taller fence, and planer knives can be sent out to saw sharpeners. I would still use clamps where POSSIBLE in holding the template while running it though the shaper. He's right about the veneer being very thin, that was the trouble, jointers would break though the veneer, trying to flush the adjoining "wood" to the veneer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laheyth Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Thanks for the input, I laminated 3 layers of cherry, with the center core at 90 degrees to the outer pieces.( because I had some), and glued it up with west system epoxy, this gave me the 1 inch thickness shown on the drawings for the car.....it looks good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Can you post some pictures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Plywood was in use at least by 1900 having been invented in the1800's. Marine plywood is no more waterproof than regular exterior grade plywood. It is called "Marine" because it has no voids in the interior plys and thus is more resistant to crushing from the bumps common in marine use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdome Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Plywood was in use at least by 1900 having been invented in the1800's. Marine plywood is no more waterproof than regular exterior grade plywood. It is called "Marine" because it has no voids in the interior plys and thus is more resistant to crushing from the bumps common in marine use.Marine plywood is made up of laminated, solid hardwood layers. It is very stable and will hold screws in the edges for the brass/aluminum trim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenHupp20 Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 invented in the 1800's ? Egypt c. 3500 B.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Yea, I saw the Egyptian notation but figured the product "invented" in the 1800's was more likely what we refer to as plywood. Maybe the Egyptians used it to make "firewalls" for their chariots? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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