A few years ago I got this wild idea about building a small ships wheel. I though it would be fun turning the spokes and should be an easy project. WRONG.  Turning the spokes was the only easy part. All the sections had to have perfect angles and holes bored in the proper place. That took a long time and when I had it all ready to glue up...........I realized how difficult that was going to be. Most had to be glued up at the same time, meaning the inside spokes and angles had to come together all at once.
After much fumbling, I did get it. I will not be building any more.
 It is Walnut, Paduk, and Yellow Hart and about 16" Dia. It is hanging in my "Man's room"

Wonderful Ron! Now I gotta ask you this, did you clamp up the wheel pieces before or after you rounded them in a circular shape?

And, the wood center is a nice touch, we are so used to seeing the usual brass center, the wood is good on the eyes and blends nicely.

Beautiful job man.

No, I cut the pieces, drilled the holes, routed the corners and sanded it all. I did a dry fit and it became VERY apparent that I'd have little time to do it wrong. I was very fortunate that everything lined up and fit as planned. I did a dry run and went for it. I also used a wood glue that had a longer set time, which helped a lot.

Ron,

Not that this really matters, but did you have a set of plans for this or did you just follow your instincts?

I looked at several plans on the Internet but didn't order or get any. My son has a friend that is re-doing an older boat and he wanted to know if I would build them a ships wheel for it.

Hearing what you had to say, I am not sure I want to take on that project.

Your looks great and I really like the use of the different woods. They really give it a superb look.

No, I didn't have any plans and did it as I went. Looking back, plans would have been much better, even if I had sat down and drew them up. I hardly ever use plans, see it.....make it. However on the marble tower and chest that I made, I would have never been able to do those without plans.

Larry, I used my Osborne precision miter to cut each segment and with my old cast iron table saw, it would cut to within a half of one degree. I then held them in place on a piece of plywood and drew my circles and placement for the holes. I bored the holes while I still had a flat surface to work with. I then cut the circles with my band saw, sanded the curves and routed the edges. I can't recall now if I used biscuits or dowel to join them, but I am thinking it was dowels.

I have come back to look at the picture several times and all I can say is it a fantastic piece of craftsmanship.

I build things sometimes with the plan in my head, but I do a lot better with a drawing and something on paper.

Absolutely awesome!!!