[Bob Carriere]

Question for the historians of the Pickering Oshawa area.

Who made the wooden steering wheels for the CMP???? Must have been a local Ontario supplier and not specifically GM or Ford. wooden steering wheel were used extensively in earlier automobile so when rubber ran out they went back to old technology.

....and the technology was readily available in Brougham, Ontario since 1860 they made steamed apple picker baskets....... and were still producing them in limited quantities in the mid 1980s for antique/collectors stores.... we actually visited the old factory and met decendants of the original basket makers...... those apple basket now occasionaly come up on Ebay for $150 US each.

The steering wheel could be produced using two pieces of brown ash or black ash typically used in native basketery which has excellent flexible properties even better than oak and interestingly enough has a very similar wood grain pattern to oak.

As any one ever research the source of the CMP steering wheels. ?????

My wife was trained by a native elder from Cape Breton Island, Margeret Johnston and I have done my share of harvesting green(as in fresh still full of sap) brown ash, quarter sawing the logs, keeping them wet in a PCV sewer pipe with some "Bounce" fabric softener which acts as a wetting agent. Once steamed, segments could be bent by hand into basket rims..... tied and allowed to dry for a few days....... we bent up to 1 in. by 3/4 in. in various round and oval shapes.

Brian Gough must be able to share some light on the source of the steering wheels.

I have no objection to the multi layered epoxy laminated approach but original CMP wheels were steam bent on two half moon sections and I beleive that it can still be done. Finger joints cutters should be available for routers to facilitate the assembly of the two segments.

Also.........There are a number of very detailed UTube videos on making repro antiques automobile wooden steering wheels ........ some with various different approaches and most with valuable tips and proven tricks of the trade.

Very similar steaming processes were also used in most early wooden cart and automobile wheels....some of which is documented in old Ford assembly line films.

Cheers

Bob C