From WoodworkersZone WoodWiki
Created by John Fry
More of John's work can bee seen at his website:Chiselandbit
Here is the construction log for the 27 "T" flamed bed.
This is part of a larger project seen here: 1927 Model “T” Pickup
I started the wooden bed by hauling the unfinished metal bed to my shop.
I dry fitted the five select white maple boards to the body and measured out the necessary rabbets to accommodate the stainless steel runners and the underlay of the two outer boards.
After cutting all the rabbets and setting the expansion gaps. I laid the assembly out on the bench and took measurements so we could draw up the flame patterns.
The flames were drawn out on wide velum by the client’s artist friend and I lined everything up on the bench again, taped it all down to transfer the design. Using large pieces of carbon paper that I had to move around, I carefully transferred the pattern to the wood.
Here is the layout after the carbon transfer.
I made two large acrylic router bases to ride on a pair of outside guide rails to provide a consistent depth of cut. I set up two routers with flat bottom cleaning bits, one was a large ¾” diameter and one was a smaller ¼” diameter. I would hog out the big spaces with the big bit, and then use the smaller bit for getting close to the lines. They were routed at about 3/16” deep.
This is what each board looked like after using a chisel to clean out the points and tips of the flames and then a bit of sanding to smooth the bottom of the recess where needed.
The flames are airbrushed and we set it up on the bench with the gas tank to see what it looked like.
And of course, the finished and installed bed in the truck.
