Buick Wood

[Guest clos36]

Does anyone know what type of wood(frame) was originally used on a 1936 Buick?

[michaelod]

Not sure about the 36 but in the 30 bodies by Fisher they used mostly ash for the structural and poplar for pieces that did not require as much strength in the interior. Poplar is a lot easier to drive an upholstery tack into. There is probably less poplar pieces in the car by 1936 as I believe that is the last or nearly the last year in which GM used wood as structural members in their cars.

Thanks,

[JoelsBuicks]

On my 36, I saw red oak and white oak and hard maple for structural wood. By far most was red oak and I have seen no ash but those pieces could have easily rotted away first. Non structural was poplar and pine or maybe it was spruce and I couldn't rule out cottonwood for a couple pieces I've seen. I think it is fair to say that there was no standard other than hardwood for structure and softwood for non structural in 1936. My '37 Sr 90 is fully wooded while my '37 sr 40 has no wood.

To replace the wood, I used white oak for structural and cypress for non-structural. Both of these wood species are naturally bug and rot resistant. They both are very stable when properly dried. I've heard numerous references to using ash. It offers very good stability, strength and workability but there are a couple drawbacks that I did not want to deal with. It is very susceptable to being eaten by the powder post beetle - even after you have finished it. It also rots (biodegrades) quickly if exposed to moisture. I made a three-legged stool out of ash and I started seeing little piles of very fine dust on the floor beneath the stool. When I finally woke up to what was happening, the stool was full of tiny holes. I have seen this happen to red oak to a limited degree.

Good luck with your project,

[michaelod]

On my 36, I saw red oak and white oak and hard maple for structural wood. By far most was red oak and I have seen no ash but those pieces could have easily rotted away first. Non structural was poplar and pine or maybe it was spruce and I couldn't rule out cottonwood for a couple pieces I've seen. I think it is fair to say that there was no standard other than hardwood for structure and softwood for non structural in 1936. My '37 Sr 90 is fully wooded while my '37 sr 40 has no wood.

To replace the wood, I used white oak for structural and cypress for non-structural. Both of these wood species are naturally bug and rot resistant. They both are very stable when properly dried. I've heard numerous references to using ash. It offers very good stability, strength and workability but there are a couple drawbacks that I did not want to deal with. It is very susceptable to being eaten by the powder post beetle - even after you have finished it. It also rots (biodegrades) quickly if exposed to moisture. I made a three-legged stool out of ash and I started seeing little piles of very fine dust on the floor beneath the stool. When I finally woke up to what was happening, the stool was full of tiny holes. I have seen this happen to red oak to a limited degree.

Good luck with your project,

Termites had a field day in my car although it was never a field car. I had to replace about 40-50 percent of the wood due to bug damage which was challenging

[Guest Phil Cordery]

Termites had a field day in my car although it was never a field car. I had to replace about 40-50 percent of the wood due to bug damage which was challenging

I had a similar Termite problem on my master 6, but they only eat the main body bearers, left the

uprights untouched, I had the wood checked & the ID was Birch, made up of several pieces dovetailed together, talk about use every piece of scrap, now replaced with Ash, the holes the termites made were huge, about 3/8" dia running side by side down the whole length of both sides,

not much to be seen from above but they hade eaten everything & left just a thin skim of wood above the tunnels, I only found out when I leaned on a part & it collapsed.

[Guest born2lose]

to eliminate any of those issues from happening just convert over to metal like I did to my 36 3 window. A lot more time consuming but worth the extra time in the long run.

[Larry Schramm]

I believe that much of the wood used in the old bodies were what was available locally. For cars in Michigan it would be mainly oak, ash, maple, and maybe pine or birch.