Anyone any idea what wood the panels behind the front seat of a Model 607 stanley might be mde of? Its some sort of very light coloured hardwood, perhaps Maple, but am not 100% sure.

See link to photos of panels from our car , #7644.

[www.flickr.com]

I need to make up some replacements before the car goes to the coach trimmer in April.

Thanks
Peter Turvey
Marlborough UK

Peter, I believe it to be northern ash. Allen

It will almost certainly be ash. You can tell fairly easily: if you sand a small spot and wet it maple will be light yellow to golden, while ash will be white. There are darker varieties of ash, but I don't think they would have been used for something hidden, as they were (and are) valued for furniture and flooring.

Ian Cameron, 1919 Four Seat Touring Stanley

Thakns for your opinions - I set it as a challenge to our conservators at work, and they came up with yellow poplar or white spruce. They lose!

By the way, I have set up a facebook group to report on the car's progress at

[www.facebook.com]


Peter Turvey

Well, maybe not, but I don't think Stanley would have used relatively soft woods for that application. But you can easily tell the difference between poplar or spruce and ash. Ash is much harder - you can stick an awl into poplar or spruce with very little effort. Ash or maple will be quite difficult.

Dear Peter, On our 1914 Stanley model 606 which is an original car, but 96 years old, it has a poplar type wood behind the backrest springs for spring support. Underneath the fuel tank, poplar is again used as a filler between the fuel tank and the water tank. These original boards are about 4 inches wide and no framing strength is required of them. Everywhere else on the car where strength is requred, ash was used.

I wish to add. These wood pieces are hidden out of sight.