MTFCA Forum

Well, here’s the answer.

They were made with a dovetail glue jointing machine. One picture is the original rear seat heel panel from my 22 sedan. It’s made of two pieces jointed together.

The other is the piece that the rear seat cushion sits on. It is made of three pieces jointed together with one of the pieces having a completely different grain pattern from the others

The fabric wrapped around the metal trim that screws to the front edge

The same thing happens today. Short, random lengths are finger jointed to make longer pieces, and these longer pieces are then used to make wider boards. That way, maximum benefit is gained from every piece of lumber, just like Henry did.

Allan from down under.

Making wood firewalls

They used irregular shapes of wood put together with sliding dovetail and tongue and groove joints.

My point being….there are people out there that will deny this to their dying breath.

Firewalls were made this way, door pillars were made this way, seat boxes, seat bottoms, door innards. Just about any wooden body parts.

Not a myth, or wives’ tale, or something speculated upon. Just good old fashioned fact.

Harley_97 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 27, 2025 7:35 am

They used irregular shapes of wood put together with sliding dovetail and tongue and groove joints.

That’s what a dovetail glue jointing machine does: takes various sizes of lumber and joints them together to make bigger, more user friendly pieces. The machines came in different sizes to accommodate all manner of dimensions for lumber.

I had the remains of a 1920 wooden firewall with a drip edge still on it I bought from Bobs a few years ago. I had known that Ford made them that way and I wondered if it was done that way to use up the pieces of wood to save money. Maybe it was because plywood as we know it today wasn’t made the way it is today.

Linderman Machine made it possible on a factory scale. First patent 1908, here is 36 page catalog showing the equipment available in 1911.


https://search.app/f8pQKs4MA2oH6iTGA

The art of Joinery, without which wood would be of rather limited usefulness.

Wood cut from Linderman joined wood, yes.

Floorboards made from packing crates of specified size, no.

: ^ )

Franklin Automobile Co. made EXTENSIVE use of "Linderman Machines" on virtually all wood parts except chassis frames. (Frame laminations were all knot-free Ash or Maple of a specified size and thickness. The wood chassis frame on my 1926 Franklin is still in excellent condition, and the doors are perfectly aligned and close like a bank vault door!) Nearly every wooden part drawing I have from Franklin has the phrase "Use Linderman Machine Stock for this part" on it. I assume Ford used these machines as well, as you feed wood that is considered scrap into them, and come up with standard dimension stock, ready to be turned into perfectly good parts. Everyone knows how thrifty Henry Ford was when it came to using every particle of material he bought.