Building wood wagon wheels and wagons

[woodbutcher]

:grin: Talk about some crazy over the top wood working skills.These folks are it.
EngelsCoachShop.com.Check them out.If you are a wood worker,this site will be habit forming.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe
Leo

[jsizemore]

The wheelwright is awesome. Thanks for that link!

I always tell folks that "round costs a bunch of money". I did a round balcony with a radius of 25' out of reclaimed heart pine. That sure was fun figuring how to make the designers lines on paper actually work.

[bedbugbilly]

Many years ago, when I had my millwork and custom woodworking shop, I also collected wheelwright tools with the intention of getting in to wheel making. I had a steel rim roller that came out of a local blacksmith shop in our small town - the town is/was "a mile square" - in farming community back then, and at one time, it had three practicing blacksmith shops back when "horses were king". :-)

I rolled a few wheel rims for some different "horse people" who dabbled in fixing old wagons and carriages. I never found a "tire shrinker" to add to the collection but I knew where there was one if needed.

It's an interesting trade but I never got around to getting serious with it. I had a friend who wanted me to reproduce the wood spokes for the Model T wheels. I made a few and helped him restore a set of wheels for a Model T he was building from scratch from parts he'd collected and that was a fun project. I just never had the time to devote to really getting "set up" as I had my regular millwork and custom woodworking that paid the bills.

I did make a number of spinning wheels - both the foot treble style as well as the large "walking wheel" style. I did a lot of wood turning. The smaller treadle wheels I would make the rims by making an octagon rim and then using jig I built, cut it circular on the outside on the big 36" band saw that I had. To cut the inside diameter of the wheel, I made a jig and used a router to cut the inside diameter much like a compass with a center point. Prior to glueing up the eight pieces for the rim, I drilled the spoke hole in the center. Once the wheel rim was cut, I turned the spindles to the desired shape and the hub I made as a "split hub". I would glue the two pieced together with a layer of paper at the joint, turn the hub and then drill the eight spoke holes with another jig I made that would "index" the drill to the next hole location. Then I would split the hub with a chisel at the joint, insert the spies in the rim and then glue the hub together after laying the spokes in the holes ("half holes" of each side of the hub. Once assembled, I put the hub on another jig that I could turn the wheel on and tru up the outside diameter of the rim as well as putting the drive slots for the drive cord that connected to the yarn spindle assembly that would spin it. With the jigs I used, it was amazing how "true" the wheel ended up and very little work was needed to true up the outside diameter of the rim.

For the walking wheels, I steamed white ash and I hame a jig to clamp the steamed rim slat in until it dried and formed. Then I would use a scarfed lap joint like they used on the original rims to form the joint. I had a jig for a 36" and a 48" diameter wheel. I turned the spokes and made the hub the same way as I did for the treadle wheels but it wasn't split. The spokes would be inserted in the hub and then I had a jig I made for the rim to set in and the hub with the spokes placed on a spindle in the center of the jib and each spoke was then cut to length and fitted to the inside of the slat rim. Once each was fitted, they were then "pinned" through the rim into the end of the spoke with square cut brads. I then had another jig to mount the wheel in and with a rounter, would hand turn the completed wheel to put the drive cord groove in.

Wheel making is an "art" but it's amazing what you can do if you just study what "needs to be" and then figure out how you're going to do it with the tools you have. I also had a collection of spoke tenon cutters which which would be used in a "brace" to cut the right size round tendons on the ends of spokes.

We had a "buggy shop" in town - the building is still there. A two story shop that was probably 20' X 30'. Our family had the lumberyard and when my Dad was a teenager - in the very early 1020s, he would taper the tongues on the large 12" jointer that they had in the mill shop of the old lumberyard before it burned. Dad often told of watching "Old Man Lawrence" build a horse drawn wagon or a "run about". He was a maser carriage builder and wheelwright - making everything. He made them on the ground floor and then there were large trap doors in the ceiling of the first floor/floor of the second story and he would use a block and tackle and raise the completed wagon or buggy to the second floor where it was finished - farm wagons usually with paint and buggies with hand painted coats of lacquer. Dad said he often watched him putting in screws, which of course were slotted heads. He was a perfectionist and every screw slot had to "line ip" or else the screw was removed and another one put in.

In the early '80s, I built a "treadle lathe". "10" swing and 36" between centers. The legs and bead pieces were out of white oak as were the headstock and tailstock. I turned the spindle and used ball bearings in the white oak headstock the tailstock I made with a morse taper inside and could use a live center. I drove the spindle with a flat leather belt and the drive wheel that was connected to the wood treadle I made out of white ash. The rim I made out of 12/4 (3") - made it the same way as I did the wheels for the spinning wheels and then to add weight to the rim, I bored into it and poured in lead to add weight. The whole lathe really ended up working very well and I often took it to different events in the area to demonstrate. I would cut out "spoon blanks" out of walnut and cherry, turn the handles and then carve the spoon bowls. They made a good "give away" to someone in the crowd who was watching and it got to the point that I had so many asking to buy one that for a while, I spent a lot of time doing that and selling them.

Trades like the wheelwright, cooper, etc. are something that will eventually die out unless there are those who have an interest and those that are willing to teach them. When I taught shop (HS and Jr. High), I would do things such as teaching them out to make simple wood spoke wheels, etc. as it gave good experience on all the machines. Unfortunately, Ind. Ed programs are a thing of the past. While there are some good books out there, so much of the knowledge and the "tricks of the trade" were learned by experience and held in memories. Heating a rim to expand it to fit to a wood wheel, the process of "shrinking" the rim with a "tire shrinker" (tool" to fit a wheel) were pretty much "common knowledge" - not different than setting a wagon in a creek to swell the wheels if the rims loosened to tight them up - all common sense years ago. Today? I'm surprised at how many folks can't flush a toilet with a bucket of water. :-)

I used to tell the kids in my classes that "you can do anything you want to if you just think about it and take it a step at a time". For those that love working with wood - give it a try and make yourself a wheel or a wood canteen with a slatted outside rim - not much different that a cooper making a container. You'll be surprised at what you can do and then you can hang it on the wall in your shop and look at it with pride knowing you WERE able to do it! :-)

[samari46]

Remember 20 mule team borax??. There was a a collection of videos I think on you tube about a group that had built an actual borax wagon. Forget how big the wheels were but they were huge and had the steel rims hot pressed onto the wheels. When cooled they shrink and fitted perfectly. Frank

[lead-1]

I watched a video or two on the Borax wagon, even the wife took an interest and was watching over my shoulder. I think the front wheels were over 700 pounds and the rear were over 1000 pounds. The wooden brake shoes were quite thick also.

[Wayne Smith]

If I remember right it was Eagles Coach Shop who made the Borax wagons. I watched the whole series.

[Ole Joe Clarke]

It was Engles Coach Shop that made the Borax wagons. I have him bookmarked and catch his new video every Friday evening. The rear wheels for the borax wagons weighed over 1,000 # ea. He is a true craftsman, and I enjoy watching him.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

[Reverend Al]

The link wouldn't work because you mis-spelled it. They are ENGELS Coach Shop (not Engles). This is there correct web address.

https://engelscoachshop.com

Very interesting stuff!

[AggieEE]

My grandfather was a blacksmith in Maxwell, Tx. at the turn of the 20th century. My Grandmother said he was also a wainwright and a wheelright in addition to other blacksmith skills. I have some of his tools for cutting tenons.

[woodbutcher]

[smilie=s: Hi ReverendAl.Sorry about the typo.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[woodbutcher]

[smilie=s: Hi Folks.Glad that all of you enjoyed the site.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[country gent]

I also am amazed at the barrel makers if the time fitting 8 to 10 staves together with iron rings and being water tight. What a skill set that was

[woodbutcher]

[smilie=s: Hi Country Gent.I believe those folks are called coopers.Growing up there was an older gentleman that built oak casks like that for movie sets.And yes.They were water tight.My Grand Father built a few small charred oak casks(About 3 gal size) for one of his ongoing"DIY" projects.:twisted::drinks:.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Wayne Smith]

If you go to Colonial Williamsburg and purchase a day's membership you get to have a conversation with any or all of the reinactors there. Remember Mr. Gussler (SP) was the original gunsmith and re-created the all hand made muzzleloader. All of them are experts at their professions - and, years ago when we were last there the cooper was the best story teller of them all.

[woodbutcher]

[smilie=s: Yes Sir.I have seen a few of the videos from there.Very interesting and entertaining to boot.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[FredBuddy]

My grandfather was a wagon maker in the old country
(Hungary) and travelled from town to town to ply
his trade.

He came to the USA with my mother and worked
in other fields, but kept a woodworking shop
in his basement. As kids, we learned to make
our own baseball bats on his home made, foot
powered lathe with a huge wood flywheel.

That's just the short story !!!

[abunaitoo]

That's a lots of work.
Can't imagine how much harder it was without the tools we have now.