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Re: [Healeys] Healey wood

To: Mirek Sharp <m.g.sharp@sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Healey wood
From: "Curt/Nancy Arndt" <cnaarndt@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:42:48 -0700
Mirek,

No apologies required.  Just my feeble attempt at tongue in cheek :-^) wink,
wink ;-) humor.

I did however re-check my BN1 wood and the original seat runner wood looks
to me to be mahogany, the wooden strip, one in each door is mahogany on one
side and possibly oak on the other side.  The only other pieces of wood I
know of in the 100 are the four side curtain socket mounting pieces, the
seat bottom frames,  the wedge in the boot for the spare tire and the small
spacer piece for the boot prop rod.  Did I miss any?

Now, even though I have building furniture for many years, I may be
mistaken.  So the next time I see my friend Steve Kirby, I'll ask him to
look at my original wood and see if he knows what types they are.  Steve is
British car guy (Austin Healey, MG, Morris) who owns and has restored a
number of MGs as well as other British cars and who is also a retired
professor (head of the department) of fine woodworking at Palomar College.

Since none of these is readily visible (either covered in vinyl or painted)
and no Concours judge looks at them or even cares, then whatever similar
hardwood used is OK with me.   Unless of course you someday want your Healey
judged at Pebble Beach then I might suggest something exotic like African
Zebra wood ;-)

BTW, the replacement seat runner wood strips that I got from Eric Grunden of
Absolutely British are oak and Eric even makes and supplies them with the
proper fine thread (1/4 x 28) special captive nut.  Very nice parts.

Cheers,

Curt


On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 8:16 AM, Mirek Sharp <m.g.sharp@sympatico.ca> wrote:

>  Sorry - I did not mean to imply Healeys are wood framed - I have noticed
> over the last 35 years of ownership that they are mostly made of metal.
> However, I would need some convincing that any old piece of wood was
> used for the few wooden bits.  I did not think I would have to explain that
> my tongue was in my cheek with the remark about the concours committee, but
> just to be so there are no misconceptions, it was.
>
> The tradition of using wood in car construction was certainly dying out
> when Austin Healeys were being produced, but I expect those who made the
> wood pieces came from long line of craftsmen and used the species that were
> best suited to the job, and my understanding is that these have
> traditionally been fine-grained, rot-resistant European hardwoods like ash
> and beech.  Of course the North American hardwoods would do just as well -
> white ash for example, but the original question was what kind of wood is
> used - not what *could* be used.  I very much doubt mahogany was ever used
> - too soft.
>
> For the plywood panels, I have used Baltic birch, which is readily
> available in very thin sheets and works perfectly. As for the hardwoods, if
> you can get the right stuff, why not use it, but white ash would work fine.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mirek
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