Mocking Up The Grille

Being in pandemic lock-down, materials and gas aren’t abundant. So I decided to use up scraps and started mocking up the grille.

The faux grille below is actually 3 bits that were prior failed bonnet attempts.

When I made the original wooden buck, I never really decided on the shape of the grille. Mostly because the front was slammed tight up against a wall.

The first half was a couple hours work, but getting the second half to match, was a different matter.

The rough shape was beaten out with a large sand bag and a homemade Thor hammer. It’s my super large bossing mallet.  Once close, I swapped to my homemade English wheel and smaller wooden bossing mallets.

I use paper templates wrapped around the outside as well as contour guides and scraps of steel cut to different profiles. I then flip these 180º to check they match the other side.

Even in the shot above, there was still plenty of tweaking to do. The bottom right isn’t the same shape as the bottom left, the top curves need minor tweaking etc…
It’s only a millimetre here or there but your eye will tell you it’s a centimetre.

I don’t actually have to get the whole thing 100% perfect as virtually nothing of it will remain once I cut out the central hole. It is after all a steel buck.

Now I have this rough shape, I have the hard part to do……
……..decide on the cut out shape.

Will there be a raised central rib?

I want a really retro look. So it might even add a cranking handle hole… I really don’t know?????

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