I was watching this auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300313977908&sspag ename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&viewitem=

The description lists that the new spokes are oak several times. In looking at the photos I'm not sure that the spokes are not hickory. What do you think?
Herb

Mel Draper takes the wheels to Noah Stutzman to be respoked. Stutzman uses only hickory. They look like a great set of wheels to me.

Royce
Nice that you know the builder, as always the buyer needs to beware, there are strange and spooky spokes out there......

PINE!!!??? Good god, that fella is looking for a liability suit!

Interesting though, I read several years ago that English cars used oak for wheel spokes, but the oak they used is not the same oaks we have in the states. I don't recall the species stated, but it was said that the English oak was more like our shagbark hickory. Now, if one were to make their spokes from white oak I would be more apt to use them though. There were some pictures posted some time back of some broken RED oak spokes, but red and white oak share one trait and that is the word "oak" in the name. They are about as different as night and day. White oak is much more resistant to breaking than red, and much more like the Live Oak. The ship Constitution was built of Live Oak, and got name "Old Ironsides"since cannonballs seemed to bounce off. Again, I read that...I wasn't there to see it

Ray,she also had thick copper plating on her.

Noah Stutzman also does the spokes & felloes for John McLaren's new wood wheels. They are nice! I'm getting a set with the correct hubs, etc., for the '15 Coupelet I'm now working on.

Respectully Jack, only from the water line down. The copper sheathing is primarily to prevent shipworm infestation. Her hull is 21" thick and hull ribbing 2" apart instead of the standard 24" centers of the day. The ironclads of the War of Northern Aggression were plated with iron to protect from shelling, but the Constitution and other naval ships of that era relied on the density of the wood and thick construction to protect them.

I purchased a set of wheels from Mel Draper about 2 years ago and have been quite happy with them. I think they ran me about $1,600 for the set. That was new rims, used hubs and new wood. I didn't send anything to Mel. My only gripe is the threads on one of the hubs he procured for me on one of the front wheels was bad. Other than that the wheels turned out great.

Chris.

On a side note, anyone know where to get the metal sleeve thing that goes in the wood felloe and is where the innertube stem comes through? My set of wheels I ordered didn't come with them and I can't seem to find them in the catalogs. It's just a hole in the wood felloe on my wheels.

Chris.

Chris,

I believe the Ford plans show the metal insert on the earlier wheels, but not on later wood felloe wheels.

What year are your wheels?

Tom

Tom,
I've got a '15 Touring.

Chris.

White oak, while different from red oak, is still not acceptable for car wheels. No evidence has been found that Ford used anything but Shagbark Hickory for wheels.

"Impact Bending, Height of Drop Causing Failure" the critical strength for wheels, is the third column, in inches:

Hickory, Bitternut 0.66 1.79 '66' 9,040 1,680 -
Hickory, Nutmeg
Hickory, Pecan 0.66 1.73 '44' 7,850 1,720 2,080
Hickory, Water 0.62 2.02 '53' 8,600 1,550 -
Hickory, Mockernut 0.72 2.22 '77' 8,940 1,730 1,740
Hickory, Pignut 0.75 2.26 '74' 9,190 1,980 2,150

Hickory, Shagbark 0.72 2.16 '67' 9,210 1,760 2,430

Hickory, Shellbark 0.69 1.89 '88' 8,000 1,800 2,110

Oak, Northern Red 0.63 1.82 '43' 6,760 1,010 1,780

Oak, Southern Red 0.59 1.49 '26' 6,090 870 1,390

Oak, Swamp White 0.72 2.05 '49' 8,600 1,190 2,000

Oak, White 0.68 1.78 '37' 7,440 1,070 2,000

http://www.woodbin.com/ref/wood/strength_table.htm

rdr

Those pine spokes would only be good for a museum piece which never gets driven. The oak spokes are iffy. Hickory are the best and safest.
Norm

Pine,Only 2 bucks!
oh yea! finally some new spokes I can afford!
:>)


NO,I aint gona buy no pine spokes.Those were probably made for wheels that people use for decoration.surely to goodness there aint no body stupid enough to run them.they would last as long as you went straight probably.

There are 16 pines listed at the link I provided above. They range from 18 to 34 inches for Impact Bending, the best of which compare favorably with most of the oaks.

There's no wood short of Shagbark Hickory that should be used on a car, and most Ts don't stay in museums forever, which means they should not get inferior spokes, either.

rdr