Wood rim steering wheel

[alan284flavia]

My flavia 2000 coupe has its original steering wheel now in need of some renovation. There is some gaps opening around circumference as well as lacquer or varnish needing done. Can anyone advise what type of wood the wheels were made of, I think I will go for Brummer filler but need a tone. Will finish off with many coats of satin water based varnish unless anyone has other suggestions.
Also, how is wheel removed, can dig out parts list

[Jay]

This may help I did mine 5 years ago http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8106.0

I thought my wheel would need filling but by the time I pasted it with PVA and then wrapped it very very tightly and waited 24 hours, most of the gaps had disappeared, even better after a quick light sand. So didn’t need to fill it after all.  I used some special clear varnish which doesn’t discolour, can’t remember if it was water based or not.

[Crag]

What a lovely job you made of that steering wheel! With what did you bind it that ensured that the binding kept the wood of the wheel in place but did not itself remain in place? I would like to achieve the same results on my newly acquired Fulvia. Thanks.

[DavidLaver]

I've not done a steering wheel, but for other things I've wrapped with masking tape. 

[chriswgawne]

What isn't helpful is corrosion of the aluminium 'chassis' of the wheel. If this has occurred the only solution is to remove al the wood, clean the aluminium and start again. Not impossible though. I have had 2 steering wheels with corrosion I have brought back to life - one with rivets and one without. The riveted one was tricky as the wood was cracked and split and the wheel had a powdery deposit but the main problem was drilling out the rivets without increasing the hole size in the wood.
For binding everything back together while the wood glue set, I found butchers string worked very well as  I was able to get a good tension in it.
Chris

[Jay]

Thinking back, i used normal PVA wood glue, i opened up the gaps slightly to get the glue down the cracks. Parts where the wood was splintering i used small cable ties to get the pressure, then wrapped the wheel in oven/grease proof paper, and wrapped shoe laces around very very tightly. Can't remembered if the grease proof paper did the trick and didn't sick as i lightly sanded the whole wheel, varnished it a a few times, sanding between the first few coats, then polished the frame. It was a real transformation.

I hope that helps   

[Crag]

Thanks to everyone for their helpful replies; I can see a plan emerging and as I'm the wrong side of 70 I may well have the time to implement it!