MTFCA Forum

I drove to Ohio in November to see the Klepingers and to visit Stutzmans. I dropped off 2 wheels and had a short visit
with Arlin, Noah's son. They are the only 2 that work there. I asked him to please mail the wheels back to me. I had
already taken them apart and cleaned them. I gave him 2 of my old spokes so he knew what size to make. I was told
6-8 weeks. 6 weeks was correct, and that was over the Thanksgiving and Xmas holiday.

The UPS man dropped them on the porch and made a racket. I did not realize they were the wheels. Here is the box
they were packed in. I would describe it as double cardboard. I opened the box and had to get a vacuum to suck up all the styrofoam, but the wheels were wrapped in bubble wrap.
I hate styrofoam, but now I know how he packs them and if I need to send him more wheels I know how he likes them packed. The wheels are beautiful. I do not think I even need to sand them, they are so smooth. I will have to seal and paint them black.
My other wheels are black and tradition says that is what they have to be. Maybe I need to get a set of naturals just in case one
year I want stained wheels. I have a set of disc wheels and they are red to go with the red speedster. Arlin was kind enough to inform me that they do not peen the bolts. I am sure that is so I can take part of the hub off
and paint them correctly.
The total cost for the 2 wheels was $378, including shipping. He gave me the option to pay with check or credit card.

When I first saw this wheel I thought it had cracked. Wrong. Stutzman put this side of the spoke facing inward so if I did just stain the spokes you would not see it. I noticed other spokes were done the same way. The outward facing part of the spoke was always the best looking side.

Looks like Amish racing wheels. If you get back here, I can hook you up with a buggy race or two.

Really Dallas..., You have only seen them as a blur in motion as they pass you drag racing!

Very nice wheels!

Hank

I hope to bring in a ringer like Dave. The old TT just wont do it.

Makes me want a set of these

You have only seen the touring. The speedster comes to Ohio next, with the new wheels. You need to get Hank up there to officiate the race. We can always hunker down in that new shop space you just put up. Better add a bathroom with toilet.

David,

Those are beautiful. Thank you for sharing the pics!

Darin

Can't beat Stutzmans work and possibly the price. Arlington and Noah are two great fellas. His one daughter who often runs the "front desk" is super sweet too. We are lucky to have them in our region.

I was very pleased with my entire transaction with Noah. From phone
conversations to final product. It would be hard to have better customer
service and product.

Now I just have to figure out how to get paint or sealer under the hub. Is there a way to do it without the wheel coming apart, or do you just leave it?

Ford never did paint or seal under the hub so you got to ask your self, will I live long enough to have to re-build the wheels a second time because you didn't.

Kerry wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 10, 2021 5:41 pm

Ford never did paint or seal under the hub so you got to ask your self, will I live long enough to have to re-build the wheels a second time because you didn't.

I was told by my father 50 years ago not to paint 4 sides of a fence board. It would rot out in no time. Saw it happen to overachievers lot's of times over the years. Henry may have witnessed the same thing? I also have had a set of Stutzman wheels. Spokes were almost bone white and harder than a wedding
W...er! Awesome workmanship!

I have been in the General Contracting business, specializing in historic
restoration stuff, now for 40 years. I do a LOT of repair and much consideration
goes in to keeping wood nice, with minimal maintenance, .... which leads
straight to paints and stains. I tell my clients to always use low body oil stains,
whenever possible, and plan on guaranteed problems and maintenance with
even the best of paints.

Wood and water = expansion. This breaks paint skin surfaces, allowing more
water in and the peeling and wood breakdown process begins. Add movement
stresses of cars in use, and the problems are only multiplied. Now, this sounds
overly dramatic, and the way most old car people care for their cars, it's not like
they are left out in the weather much, but the theory still applies.

I refuse to paint clients' decks, porches, and fences, unless they sign a waiver,
and highly discourage such painting, because it goes to hell in short order, and
the fix is involved and expensive. Oil stains like what were used in 1900 are the
only way to go.

When I got my wheels back from Stutzman, I got an oil stain and dumped a ton
of black colorant into it, thinned it very thin, and gave the wheels a coat, let dry,
mixed a second batch that was not as thinned, and did it again. I repeated the
process 4 times, each time making it less thin. You want the early coats real thin
for maximum depth of penetration, but as the oils dry in the wood pores, they build
up IN the wood as a moisture repellant, much as an oil soaked rag will not sop up
any water. With each thicker coat, the oils build up, but do not create a skin,
thereby repelling the water, but having no surface "skin" to crack and peel. It
is not how Henry did it, but I am maintaining my truck as a farm truck, and as
you can see, the wheels look perfectly "down on the farm" with this treatment,
and are largely bulletproof to water, and will never crack or peel, because there
is nothing there to crack and peel. And the other great thing about this is, at any
point that I want to freshen up the stain, I just go over it again. There is no skin,
so if the wood CAN absorb more oil, it will do so without any surface obstruction.

Just my .02, based on my own "farm" experience and years of working with wood
and paint/stain finishes.

Michael Peternell wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 10, 2021 8:35 pm

I was told by my father 50 years ago not to paint 4 sides of a fence board. It would rot out in no time. Saw it happen to overachievers lot's of times over the years. Henry may have witnessed the same thing? I also have had a set of Stutzman wheels. Spokes were almost bone white and harder than a wedding
W...er! Awesome workmanship!

That's because wood needs to BREATHE. Similarly, on our outdoor wood football stadium seating, we never ever painted the undersides of any of the wood. And like Burger said, we switched from plain old paint to good ol' "colorized stain". Great success.

Stutzman did mines on my 1911 Touring. They are stunning! Their services is 5 stars!