1914 steering wheel paint procedure

[Corey Walker]

I’ve had a repro steering wheel, varnished with about 12 finger joints on my 14 for forever and I found an original one finger joint rim. From the factory were the rim and wheel painted separately or together? I’m thinking that if they were painted after assembly then the screws got painted, if not then the screws would be left unpainted. Would the screws have been brass originally? My repro wheel has nickel screws.

[KWTownsend]

Cory,
As you know, in 1914 the entire steering wheel assembly is painted black. No brass spider. No varnished rim. I suspect the spider and rim may have been done separately, but I would paint it as an assembled unit. BTW the 1914 spider would have 2 square keys.
Keith

[Corey Walker]

Ok thanks. I’ve got 2 spiders, one is plain, one has Ford in block letters. Both have a single keyway but I can deal with that. I’m going to use the Ford spider and varnished rim on a speedster and put the other one, painted black, on my 14. The rim has a crack going about halfway around it but I glued it with some gorilla wood glue and may put a couple small dowels in it. Once I paint it they won’t show. I was mainly wondering about the screws. It’s really solid besides the crack but I’ve sat in a rocking chair the owner told me after the fact that was held completely together with gorilla glue so it should suffice here I suppose.

[KWTownsend]

Cory-
My friend RV told me the screws for the wood wheel are oval head slotted, #12 x 3/4".
Keith

[Original Smith]

I've painted a number of original wood steering wheels over the years. I put in all four screws with the spider, but leave them loose so the paint can get under where the spider goes. I've not had a problem. Note, not all the screw holes always line up with the ones in the wood, so you have to rotate the spider until you find a match.