Making Wooden Wagon Wheels

[Jim Watson]

I finally have a little extra time and want to try making small wooden wagon wheels - perhaps 8" in diameter - to scale and just as the originals. I would like to do these just as the real thing - even shrinking a metal tire on the wooden rim. Does anyone know of a website that might show in detail the process. I have not been able to find one. Thanks for your time

[Jim Creech]

Contact Keith Outten (SMC Admin) Several years ago he made some wagon wheels abt 10"dia . I steam bent and bonded some walnut "tires" to them. Turned out beautiful.

[Keith Outten]

Jim W,

I built the wagon wheels for a hay wagon I built for the plans at Wooden Memories. The rims and spokes were maple and the hubs were turned from walnut. the wooden axles were also maple and they were threaded so I could use a large wooden nut to fasten the wheels to the wagon. Jim Creech steam bent and used epoxy to apply a very thin walnut rim that looked fabulous.

It took a lot of time to build the drilling jig for the wheels. The jig has to be perfect, if not the last couple of spokes won't fit. As I recall mine used a ten degree offset and a lot of spokes :)

I think I can find a couple of pictures of the wheels and the finished project this evening that might help, and I saved the drill jig so I should be able to get a picture of it for you if you think it might help.

Unfortunately I don't own the wagon now, a very wealthy man made me an offer I couldn't refuse so the wagon is in his business office decked out with custom scaled down hay bales. :)
.

[Darren Salyer]

Jim W,

I built the wagon wheels for a hay wagon I built for the plans at Wooden Memories. The rims and spokes were maple and the hubs were turned from walnut. the wooden axles were also maple and they were threaded so I could use a large wooden nut to fasten the wheels to the wagon. Jim Creech steam bent and used epoxy to apply a very thin walnut rim that looked fabulous.

It took a lot of time to build the drilling jig for the wheels. The jig has to be perfect, if not the last couple of spokes won't fit. As I recall mine used a ten degree offset and a lot of spokes :)

I think I can find a couple of pictures of the wheels and the finished project this evening that might help, and I saved the drill jig so I should be able to get a picture of it for you if you think it might help.

Unfortunately I don't own the wagon now, a very wealthy man made me an offer I couldn't refuse so the wagon is in his business office decked out with custom scaled down hay bales. :)
.


God bless those very wealthy men and their offers that can't be refused!!!
I'd be interested to see the pics as well.
Darren

[Dean Baehman]

http://www.windyhillwoods.com/ Has several books on making wagon wheels

[Dick Strauss]

Jim,
If you got access to a lathe with indexing, it might make the drilling process easier. A standard lathe might have 24-32 possible indexing points.

[Jim Watson]

Thanks guys for the info. I appreciate the suggestions, and leads. Keith I would love to see a pic of the wagon and wheels. They sound great. Also the jig picture would be interesting to see how you went about that. I had thought about using somesort of indexing on my lathe to get the spokes evenly spaced. Thanks again, Jim

[Keith Outten]

It took some digging but I found a few pictures of my hay wagon. These were taken before digital cameras, they are scanned from prints.

I will look for my drilling jig tomorrow and get a couple of pictures. The jig is a 12" square piece of plywood standing on its edge leaning back 10 degrees. In the center is a 1" dowel. I laid off the angles using a compass then using a custom disk made to fit the inside diameter of the rim with a 1" hole in the center I drilled the holes on one side. Flipping the rim over on the jig provides the opposite ten degree drilling angle. The same procedure works for drilling the hub except it fits the 1" dowel so there is no need for a disk.

The main body of the wagon was made from ash, the trim and both axles are all walnut. All of the fasteners were made from wood dowels that were threaded using a Beal threading jig. The steering is fully functional.
In the first picture you can see what a great job Jim Creech did steam bending the walnut rims, the fit and the scarf joints were perfect.
.

[Chris Padilla]

Very cool stuff! I love such unique items and really enjoy the thought process into building them.

[Jim Watson]

Keith that is a Beautiful Wagon you built. It looks very much like a real one that I have here in our yard. Those wheels are almost identical to the steel ones on my old vineyard wagon.

A lot of work and a lot of angles there. And Jim Creech those are impressive walnut rims too. I have been trying to steam some small planks for a large tug boat (model) and I am impressed with the thickness of the rim stock on Keiths wheels.

Should you find a pic of the jig Keith I would love to see it. But your description is pretty good and gives me some ideas.

This is what I like about Sawmill Creek. I am not an active participating member but I do scan thru it several times a week. A lot of interesting and education information here. I have purchased several large shop tools because of 'heads up' advise about on going sales. I have only made a couple of inquiries here over the last year or so and each time all you folks have jumped in with lots of good advise. I really appreciate it.

And nice horse too!

Jim

[george wilson]

We have a wheelwright's shop in Colonial Williamsburg. The Master is John Boag. Call the main number at 1-757-229-1000. Ask for the Wheelwright's shop. The craftsmen are expected to do a good job of returning calls. My toolmaker's shop always cut and welded the tires for their wheels. I also made axles and wheel bearings for many of the wagons in use everyday. They went to using some Austrian bearings a while back,as they got a very nice coach made there. We also made some of the other parts like brass bands for the hubs. Hubs are made of elm,which has interlocked cross grain to prevent splitting. They have a big stockpile of sawed off elm logs,with a hole bored right through their centers,so the logs can shrink without splitting as they dry. Later,the center of these logs becomes the center of the hub. Spokes can be hickory,and fellows(wheel rims) ash,I think. I do happen to have some Amish buggey spokes from a buggey shop in Pennsylvania,and they are ash.

I made a bronze cannon barrel,5" in the largest dia.,and about 30 inches long. I have to make wheels,or make a naval carriage,which wouldn't take up so much space. A field carriage would be over 6' long,with the trail,and I couldn't get it into my van to go shoot it . Plus,the barrel is already too heavy,and I don't want to have to take apart to transport.

My journeyman and I were down at a junkyard years ago,and found many 55 gallon drums of forged,but not polished 1 3/8" ball bearing balls. What great cannon balls! We bought several 5 gallon pails of them. They are made of 52100 steel,and I forged one of them into a knife blade. Ball bearings take huge abuse,and can make excellent knives.