artillary wheels

[30olds]

Hi, I'm new to this site and new to restorations. I have a 1930 olds standard coupe that has artillary wheels. I want to strip them down and finish them in a natural color. I do know about numbering anything removed and marking orientation. Any ideas how to press out the hub safely? media blasting the ferreo's and spokes ( such as extra fine glass bead or corn cobb )and refinishing the spokes ?. Would linseed oil work well under a poly finish coat? I know, lots of questions but thanks for any input [color:"black"] <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

[Guest sndtubes]

I have a 30 Buick with the same wheels. I feel for ya, man. They're pretty, but a pain in the butt. I recommend you visit Calimer's Wheel Shop website http://www.calimerswheelshop.com/ He is very knowledgable about these types of wheels and can even make you new spokes if needed. I am having a hard time with rims. Mine are bent and I cannot seem to find any really straight rims. Calimer's gave me the name of a guy in Dayton that might be able to make new ones, but it's expensive. If you are going to drive your car, it's important to make sure the spokes are tight and the rims are straight. Good luck!

[Guest]

Taking the hub out is probably the easiest part. With the through bolts out the drum should fall off and the hub should slide right out. Personally I would not disassemble the wheel any further. Unless the spokes are loose it is better to leave them. One of the best things to scrape hickory spokes with to make them smooth is a broken piece of glass. I use my car daily and find that I need to revarnish the spokes about every 5-6 years. The only finish I find that will stand up even this long in daily, all weather use is old fashioned spar varnish. The modern varathane types get stone chips easy and tend to peel off like cellophane after a couple of years. One trick also is to stripe your spokes after about the forth or fifth coat and then put one or two more coats of varnish right over the stripes.

[30olds]

Thanks for the info, I have seen the spoke web site but havent contacted the yet.There doesn't appear to be any need to go beyond removing the hub, everything is pretty tight.

[Mark Shaw]

I had my local sand blaster prepare my 15 Buick wood spoke wheels. When I first took the wheels to him I had the wood spokes taped off to protect them from the blasting. But he showed me that he used greensand to blast & did a beautiful job. He is over 70 years old and knows what he is doing.

Any rotted wood will be removed, so you will know if you have sound spokes. If you don't, you really want to know before you find out down the road.

I use only marine spar varnish on my spokes. On my 29 Buick, I stained them first, but on the 15 Buick they look much better without stain.

[30olds]

again, thanks for the info, this is a big help and is the direction I was leaning in. The old timers are an invaluable source that won't be around forever, they know tricks and things that aren't written down. I found this out while working on victory ships during the eighties.