29 Roadster top irons make over

ford-m

ford-m

Senior Member
Spent the weekend dismantling the top irons from the cross bows.
Chiseled out the old rotten material.

Large bow had a hardened rock like material and tow other bows had a layer of what seemed like pressed cardboard and a layer of 1/4 wood.
I will be steaming new wood strips to bend them and install them.
Bows are off to the sandblasting shop tomorrow.

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I also would like to get some ideas about what to use for nailing inserts for these top irons.
Am working on a 28 Phaeton with top irons in similar condition to your own. No one sells anything for this that I am aware, only straight top bow wood. Thanks
 
Steaming thin strips and gluing with water soluble glue is how we do them too however one word of caution, you need to make a fixture to to hold the top irons in the correct curvature in that area. The first ones we ever did actually tried to straighten out in the curved area as the wood dried.

As for the tubular rivets, use brake line tubing. Cut an extra long length of tubing and cut the end at 45 degrees. Drive the piece in until you can cut the 45 degree end straight. The end you were hammering on with be damaged too, so cut that end too and then use a tool that you fabricate in a lathe to roll over the ends.
 
Try buggy.com (Justin Carriage Works originally) click on the buggy breakdown pic for parts. They have steam-bent oak bows in different widths for a crazy low price ($18.00), I used these when I built my 1903 Olds. There is plenty of end length for trimming and fitting. Best of Luck, Gary:)
 

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Continuing with my to irons today I spent considerable time trying to keep it original wood. This turned out to be too much and I elected to use some plastic I had around the shop. Bends super easy and will accept nails/screws and will last forever. I tried steam bending the wood but it wasn't working for me.

Cut strips of 1 1/4 x 5/16 plastic stock to size

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Round over one side to fit inside bow.

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I mitred the end to fit the tapered bow end. I used the old pieces I took out as a template

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Finished product (almost). I still had to hammer like heck to get it in there.

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Loved your solution! After tho top is installed, none of the plastic will be seen, yet it will hold nails/screws. I will be doing something similar when I get to the top irons on my 28 phaeton. I restored a '15 T touring a couple years ago and ran into the same problem with the tack rails for the front and rear seats. New wood was not available, but a supplier of Model T wood did sell plastic strips that made a wonderful wood substitute for tack rails. The plastic conformed perfectly to the seat backs and held upholstery tacks very well.
 
Here they are with all the plastic installed. It went a lot easier than I thought and even easier once I introduced the heat gun to warm them up before pounding them in.

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Now to fasten the wooden bows, I will use Brent's idea of the break lines and peen them over.
Thanks for the idea Brent

As for the tubular rivets, use brake line tubing. Cut an extra long length of tubing and cut the end at 45 degrees. Drive the piece in until you can cut the 45 degree end straight. The end you were hammering on with be damaged too, so cut that end too and then use a tool that you fabricate in a lathe to roll over the ends.
Click to expand...
 
As staples are usually used these days, I would like to know how good this stuff grabs the staple ....
 
pooch said:
As staples are usually used these days, I would like to know how good this stuff grabs the staple ....
Click to expand...

I did some test shots in some spare plastic i had before I installed it and the staples stuck to the plastic like $hit to a goose. Had trouble prying the suckers out. I'm using 3/8 stainless upholstery staples.

Here they are painted. I also sprayed mould release agent befor the epoxy primer and paint to get the best adhesion.

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