Steering wheel covering

[Tony Press]

1st wheel finished. Hope the pic works. J

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I couldn't find any info on the original cellulose finish. Does anyone have  any idea where I could get info? That wheel was fully stripped and blasted before recovering

Looks excellent  even to the little bulges at the inner end of the arms

[Ian Williams]

The Eastwood kit is for a different type of wheel rim and is unlikely to make a good repair on a celluloid rim.

[Ian Dunford]

The original coverings was a combination of celluloid and a fine bandage called something like xylonite I think,
It is astonishingly inflammable and has been banned for this use since the 30s.

[John L]

Sorry for the late reply. I kept coating the wheel until I was happy with the feel and look of it. It was cut back in between coats. I couldn't find any info on the original coating. The wheel was stripped and sand blasted tj bare metal.
I may offer this as a service going forward

[Chris KC]

That's good to know Ian!!

[Steve Jones]

The original coverings was a combination of celluloid and a fine bandage called something like xylonite I think,
It is astonishingly inflammable and has been banned for this use since the 30s.

It certainly is! I made the mistake of softening the remnants of some original coating I was stripping with my paint stripping heat gun. No flame from the heat gun but the stuff still burst into flames - and how

This was a wheel with a detachable rim. The centre/spokes were in good condition but the rim was poor. I had that blasted and powder coated and it came out very well. Now cord bound.

Steve

[Bruce Nicholls]

Ian is correct about Xylonite. Rang a bell with me as we used to moor next to the sailing barge Xylonite, the first of a fleet they owned. The company was liquidated in 1999.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BX_Plastics

[John L]

Is it still possible to get a hold of this??

[Spex]

Some information.
Celluloid is cellulose nitrate and was used in various forms for photographic film, coating steering wheels, making spectacle frames and Painting cars (Duco was one brand from DuPont).
This  burnt beautifully and self degraded and could even be "spontaneous" under the right conditions. Cars painted with this, if they had a fire, burnt out completely,
end to end. In Oz, a major spec frame factory went up in smoke because of this
In the late fifties(?)  there was a switch to cellulose acetate.  In paint, Dulon from DuPont was a brand. Spec frames changed to this also as well as film- Safety film.  Cellulose 
Acetate burns only if you put a flame or heat to it and goes out if you take the flame away. Car fires then didn't see the whole car go up as much as they used to. It is softer.
"Acrylic" paints were based on this.
I hope I got this correct,as it is a long time since I learnt it.  My nickname might give you a clue as to why I had to learn such stuff.
Cheers,Peter

[Jays]

I’ve just bound my rim with cord rather than face repairing the covering. I’m hoping it works!