Bueller? Bueller?
Anyway, moving on.
inspired by ferrarissimus MFH Alfa Romeo 158 work in progress post, I decided to take a shot at turning a wood steering wheel, since this kit came with two metal steering wheel centers, a photo etched and aluminum one which gave me a bit of a safety net in case I screwed up.
I laminated three pieces of mahogany veneer together for each side of the wheel. I thought I'd be smart and make the grain directional, it turns out that this wasn't needed as I think I sanded all the way through this layer when sanding it.
traced the frame on the wood and mounted it on a jig that I made out of a scrap piece of aluminum.
Turned the inside and outside
Doing this twice for each side of the wheel
The center needed to be polished
I attached the wood by roughing up the rim and epoxying the wood to the metal center.
I put this back on the lathe to try to shape the rim closer to the finished shape. in retrospect I wouldn't do this again because the wood started to come off the rim and I hace to glue it back on. thankfully it didn't brake, the metal rim also got a little scratched up, but it all worked out.
I used files and sandpaper to get it to the final shape.
I finished the wood with CA glue and polished the wood with various sandpaper up to 8000 grit
The wheel on the 250F doesn't have any metal rivets through the wheel or finger molding as on the Alfa 158 so this was a good one to explore the best way to fabricate this piece.
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