The Romagni's wrote:
>
> Joe Curry wrote:
> >
> > Don J. Howard wrote:
> > > My two cents is that a solid wood dash in a TR is a mistake. As you see
> > > from this thread the "plywood" dash is twice as much. There is a reason
> > > for this, it costs more to make. In fact those million dollar french
> > > empire antiques that you read about in your newspaper were veneered.
> > > Before I moved to the land of no basements and no days too cold to work
> > > on LBC's I did a lot of woodworking and study of antique furniture from
> > > our colonial period. Solid splits and curls, veeners are still good
> > > after two centuries. Most of the wood names thrown about by the
> > > producers of replacement dash faces ar not in any of the wood lists I am
> > > familiar with. I believe that the TR wood dash top veener was Claro
> > > Walnut. It comes from the same tree as what we Americans call English
> > > Walnuts. Yes they do grow in California, the wood is also popular for
> > > rifle stocks. Looks like a business opportunity replacing the veneer on
> > > existing bases if $340 is the going price for a replacement.
> > >
> > > Cheers, Don J. Howard
> >
> > Let me chime in tor a second.
> >
> > I built an instrument cluster for my Spit from a solid piece of Walnut.
> > But the weight of the gauges cracked the wood. I suggest using Plywood
> > with a veneer because of the strength.
> >
> > Experience is the best teacher.
> >
> > Joe Curry '63 Spit
> Joe, Don & fellow listers,
>
> Thanks to all for the feedback. Not knowing much about woodworking, I'd
> be curious to hear more about why the solid dash is a poor choice. With
> walnut, a hard wood, it seems to me that it would be a fine choice. Not
> that plywood is bad, just another good choice.
>
> Joe, it seems that the weight of the gauges is so slight that there is
> no way the solid walnut dash would crack. What happened???
>
> Thanks to all for the info, this list is great!!!
>
> Marty Romagni
> Painesville, Ohio
> 1974 TR6
>
> In search of a dashboard...........
Basically, plywood is laminated with every other layer having the grain
going in the opposite direction. The result is great strength with
little chance of warping or twisting. With solid wood all the grain goes
in the same direction and is prone to cracking, splitting, warping etc.
All it takes is one little check in the wood and your dash is kaput. The
other problem is the thickness of the dash itself. The existing dash
wood is quite thin, maybe 1/4 - 3/8" thick. Solid wood in that thickness
would be very weak. IMHO
Bob Danielson
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