Getting around to it.

I was asked at the beginning of the year to make a steering wheel for an old Chevrolet truck, the truck is a mess and standing in a barn on a farm, the farmer says he will restore it some day but to me its a challenge so I am now getting around to it with the hope it will eventually be used for its intended purpose, the original wheel is now in 4 pieces and riddled with wood worm, I think it was hickory and it must have been steam bent as its not laminated and its not made in sections.
The farmer gave me a block of wood 1m X 70mm X 150mm it had a reddish look to it very straight fine grain that I think is maranti, I have taken 27 pieces off the side and thicknessed them to 2mm successfully with no break out, the wheel is 457mm over all diameter.
I have cut some 18mm MDF using the router to 420mm diameter using a 12mm cutter so the inner cut is 408mm I then doubled up on the MDF and once the glue was dry I flush cut the 2nd piece to match the first, I am wondering if the 37mm difference between what I want and what my jig is will allow for the spring back of the lamination (tomorrow I will know).
The 12mm of cut the router cutter made has allowed me to lay up 6 2mm pieces using epoxy, today it all went to plan for the glue up using a fine tooth spreader I was able to spread the glue very even and at a minimum so there is very little squeeze out and I kept it a very clean job, always best when using epoxy.
My plan is to make 4 and depending on the amount of spring that happens tomorrow will tell me how to make number 3 and 4, when I glue them together I intend to stagger the joint on the 1/4.


The first layups have become the inner pieces of the wheel I have increased the outer diameter of the jig and am now in the process of laying up the outer pieces then its a matter of bringing them all together.