Past project came to visit me.

[Dave Smith]

<p>Wednesday I get this knock on the door and it was the driver of a 1926 Ford hot rod. He wanted to know if I could do some more wood work for him. I was hopping he didn’t have any problems with my work. He didn’t and wanted me to do some work on a truck he was having rebuilt.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.woodnheart.com/wc/26ford1.jpg"></p>
<p>I made the running boards out of purple heart. The old ones were made from plywood and not very well made IMHO. One running board has a short crack at one end but it didn’t look like a glue joint failure. The painters were impressed with the boards and they took the finish beautifully.<p>
<p><img src="http://www.woodnheart.com/wc/26ford2.jpg"></p>
<p>The owner provided some birdseye veneer he had purchased and wanted it applied to a dash board. I had to make a new dash out of plywood. The whole task was not that big of a deal for me but it turned out excellent. He says he gets lots of complements on the dash. It is finished with BLO and several coats of wipe on gloss polyurethane.<p>
<p><img src="http://www.woodnheart.com/wc/26ford4.jpg"></p>
<p>A close up view of the dash. These pictures don’t show the depth of the figure.<p>
Thanks for viewing.
Dave Smith
My woodworking rolls around in Longview, WA.

[Lee Schierer]

Does he let you drive it to go get lumber?? Just wondering. Nice dash too.

Lee

[Bob Lasley]

Dave,

I was about to say someone had stolen the purpleheart running boards until you mentioned the painter! What a shame to cover up purty wood with yaller paint. I guess the purpleheart would of clashed though. The dash is quite nice............rest of the car don't look too bad either!

Bob

[Ken Wright]

nice ride ..... really like the dash ......

Rolled and pleated door panels ... that used to be what we all wanted and couldn't afford .... back when!!!




Dave,

I was about to say someone had stolen the purpleheart running boards until you mentioned the painter! What a shame to cover up purty wood with yaller paint. I guess the purpleheart would of clashed though. The dash is quite nice............rest of the car don't look too bad either!

Bob

[Byron Trantham]

Dave,
Lucky you, to get to work on something like that. I have always admired people who can restore cars. I have always wanted to restore a late 60's Jag XKE. Maybe in another life.

I have a question. Why did you use purple heart?

[Dave Smith]

I used purple heart for two reasons. First I had some 5/4 I had picked up really cheap, $2 a board foot. Second I have less affection for purple heart than quarter sawn white oak.

The owner wanted some thing that would hold up to weather and road debris. The plywood that had been used for the old running boards was in pretty bad shape both from water infiltration and being pelted with rocks and such from the bottom. My first thought was white oak but it was more expensive than purple heart. The purple heart was leftover shorts from a company that installs wood floors in commercial truck beds. Seemed like a good choice to me.

Purple heart is different to us and always gets a response from people who have never seen it. I don't find the wood particularly nice to work with because it splinters easily when turning and is full of silica which dulls tools quickly. White oak on the other hand is one of my favorite woods. How could I allow white oak to be painted yellow?

Dave Smith

One mans opinion in Longview, WA.