The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Body work on Hood

I'm restoring a 46 1/2 ton and am now working on the Hood. The one side on the hood on the nose is dented up pretty bad and I've been banging it out with a dolly and hammer which leaves a lot of lumps in the finish. Other than an english wheel because the nose is arched, is there a tool that can be used to get the lumps out or do I just patiently keep working away with the dolly and body hammer? thought maybe some of you sheet metal people might know a trick or two.
Thanks. BobT

What is an english wheel?

an enlish wheel is a machine used for shaping sheetmetal. it is a wheel and a ball that you roll a piece of metal between and it applies pressure and arch to the metal. it is used to fabricate body panels and other metal objects.

Have you ever heard of heat shrinking? if not let me know,and I can tell you what I know about it.An english wheel is a tool used to shape sheet metal into curved shapes,such as bike tanks fat fenders etc.Just google english wheel, or check some of the previous posts to get pics on how it works!

I did body work for 9 years and have been an auto damage appraiser for an insurance company for almost 18 years and I have never heard of it.

Very few bodyshops have english wheels. You don't really need one to work on newer cars or trucks. There used more in making sheet metal that you can't order from a catalog. specialty stuff. It takes alot of pratice to know what your doing.

check out www.eastwood.com they have pictures and prices on both tools. a planishing may make that work easier.

As far as I know, english wheels only stretch metal, not shrink it. You need to shrink the dents with either a torch or a grinder mounted shrinking wheel to get the nose back into original shape. This is not really an easy job.