PLATE 221 Jud often has to custom-make the tools he needs to do any particular job. Here, for example, he takes a piece of metal from the coil spring of a car and shapes it…
PLATE 222 … tempers it to a dark blue …
PLATE 223 … attaches a handle, and grinds the blade.
PLATE 224 The finished tool was used at the lathe to help turn the inside of the hubs.
PLATE 225 Next Jud fashions the spokes out of well-seasoned white oak. In nearly all spokes, one side of the tenon that fits into the hub is slightly tapered and the opposite side is straight. Jud tapers his one eighth of an inch. This helps ensure that when the metal tire is added and shrunk onto the rim, the spokes will all be pulled toward the outside of the wheel, creating “dish,” a feature of most well-built wheels that will be explained in a later caption. Without the sloped tenon, the dish might be pulled to the wrong side of the wheel when the tire is added.
PLATE 226 Most spokes also have two concave surfaces cut in their sides above the hub tenon. This is known as the “throat,” its purpose being to create a point in the spoke where an “elastic cushion” is formed that absorbs the effects of a concussion or blow as the wheel hits obstructions before the shock can reach the tenon in the hub and damage or weaken it. (Illustrations reproduced from Practical Carriage Building.)
PLATE 227 After checking a piece of stock against a finished spoke to make sure it is big enough, Jud traces the outline of a spoke on the stock using a pattern, and then cuts it out with a band saw.
PLATE 228 Common form of tenon and shoulder. (From Practical Carriage Building.) Great care must be taken when cutting a square shoulder for the hub tenon to make sure the cuts do not extend into the tenon itself (x x on the above diagram) weakening the tenon and affording a place for moisture and subsequent rot.
PLATE 229 Final rounding and shaping is accomplished with a spokeshave …
PLATE 230 … and a belt sander. Since the diameter of the rear wheels is to be forty inches and the front wheels thirty-six inches, the spokes for the rear wheels are longer.
PLATE 231 With the hub bolted to his workbench by means of a threaded rod through its center, Jud sets the spokes. The hub is sitting on its inside edge (the edge that will face the wagon), and so the spokes are set with their tapered sides down. Practical Carriage Building (hereafter referred to as PCB) is filled with tips as to how to accomplish this job—boil the hubs in a kettle of water for twenty minutes before driving the spokes; or heat the ends of the spokes first near a stove (to shrink the wood), and then, when hot, dip each end into boiling water quickly (to lubricate the end so it will not rebound in driving) and drive it home—but Jud simply drives the spokes into place with a hammer. It is important here that the shoulders of the spokes’ tenons fit tightly against the hub.
PLATE 232 How the spokes should be driven. (From PCB.)
PLATE 233 With the spokes in place, Jud uses a spoke pointer on a brace and bit to shape the ends of the spokes into cones (note the end of the spoke immediately behind the pointer).
PLATE 234 With the cone as a guide for the hollow auger or spoke auger, he can now shape the ends of the spokes into the round tenons that will go into the felloes (fellies). (Since the felloe end of the spoke is the weak end, the trick is to have as large a tenon as possible to hold the felloes on without breaking off, and yet small enough to leave a good bearing surface for the felloes. According to Practical Carriage Building, many makers leave half the width of the tenon—a fourth on each side—for shoulders.
PLATE 235 Various other methods have been devised by blacksmiths in the past for accomplishing this task, as illustrated in these three diagrams taken from PCB. Jud shuns such gad-getry.
A spoke-tenoning machine.
PLATE 236 A spoke-tenoning and boring machine as made by “Blue Nose.”
PLATE 237 The machine completed.
PLATE 238 Now, using one pattern for a forty-inch wheel and a different one for a thirty-six-inch wheel, Jud marks off the felloes (also called the “rim” by Jud and many other blacksmiths) he will need on two-inch-thick seasoned oak lumber—seven felloes for each back wheel (one felloe for every two spokes) and six for each front wheel. He also has patterns for rear wheels forty-four inches in diameter but, he says, “Forty inches is plenty tall enough ’cause you haven’t got them ruts and ditches to contend with now.”
PLATE 239 When the felloes are outlined, he cuts them out on his band saw. Blacksmiths used to have to do this with a felloe saw (See Foxfire 2).
PLATE 240 Placing the felloes on top of the spoke tenons and using a framing square, he marks the location of the holes he will need to drill for the tenons, drills these holes through the felloes from the inside, and then, drawing the spokes closer together with a spoke puller of his own design so that the tenons will hit the holes on the inside of the felloes, he drives the felloes on. As each felloe is driven on, the spokes spread back apart to their original spacing.
PLATE 241 With a hammer and chisel, Jud splits the end of each tenon, drives a wooden wedge into the end of each, and saws it off flush with the outside of the felloe to lock the felloes and tenons tightly together. Some wagon makers, Jud included, cut the ends of the tenons off a bit short so that when the felloes are driven on, the tenons’ ends will lack one sixteenth of an inch of being flush with the outside of the felloes. This was so that when the metal rim was shrunk onto the wheel, drawing its diameter down by as much as a quarter of an inch, the metal rim would not press on the tenons’ ends directly and risk springing the spokes. Others, however, in Practical Carriage Building claim this is not a problem if the felloes are set properly on the spokes’ shoulders.
PLATE 242 As all old wagon makers did, Jud “saws the joints” between the felloes to make the faces meet properly and to create a bit of slack space for the metal tire to pull together as it shrinks around the wheel and creates dish. According to Jud, it is also acceptable to saw out a three-eighths-inch space between two felloes and leave the other joints untouched.
PLATE 243 Now Jud smooths the edge of the wheel and the joints between the felloes with a belt sander. The inside edges of the felloes are beveled or chamfered with a drawknife.
PLATE 244 The finished rear wheels awaiting the metal tires.
PLATE 245 The addition of the metal tire to the wheel is a critical phase, for if not measured and set properly it will come loose and the wheel, without its steady stabilizing tension, will break apart. The tire also “locks in” the amount of dish the wheel will have, and it can either increase or decrease the amount of dish depending on its diameter and the degree to which it is shrunk on the wheel.
The question of dish is a matter of some debate among wagon makers, but most agree that a certain amount is beneficial, as these diagrams from Practical Carriage Building illustrate. Section through a straight wheel, illustrating the best form for supporting weight, irrespective of other considerations.
This diagram, for example, illustrates a cross section of a wheel with the opening through the hub exactly horizontal and the spoke beneath it exactly vertical. This works well enough, except when the wheels are called upon to resist horizontal strains caused by uneven road surfaces.
PLATE 246 A wheel with dish, on the other hand, absorbs horizontal strain as illustrated by the weight on its rim. The greater the weight against it, the more the felloes press against the spokes, the more the spokes press against the hub, and the greater the pressure against the tire and the more firmly it will be held in place, thus binding all the parts of the wheel together.
A wheel properly dished, and presenting the very best form for resisting the horizontal strains to which it is subjected in actual use. (From PCB.)
PLATE 247 If the dish were reversed, and strain applied, the spokes would fold like an umbrella, the diameter of the wheel would be reduced, and the tire could slip off and the wheel collapse.
A wheel with reversed dish, presenting a bad form for resisting horizontal strains. (From PCB.
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PLATE 248 When a wagon is moving on level ground there is no problem, but when one encounters a slope the load shifts against the downhill wheels, creating horizontal strain against those wheels which the dish can absorb easily. The position of a wagon or cart upon a side hill road. The vertical line drawn through the center of gravity falls to one side of the track, thus showing that the lower wheel sustains the larger portion of the load. (From PCB.)
PLATE 249 What Jud wants is a tire that will exactly match the circumference of the wheel, minus the three-eighths to one-half inch that the tire must be reduced by to close all the joints and help create the necessary amount of dish. For these critical measurements he used a traveler, measuring the outside circumference of the wagon wheel by counting its revolutions and cutting the necessary length off the twelve foot, three-eighths-inch-thick metal bars that will be rolled into tires. When the tires are rolled, he can also check their inside circumference against the wagon wheel and make necessary corrections.
PLATE 250 After cutting the flat bar to the right length for a tire, Jud feeds it into a tire bender which curves it evenly into a hoop.
PLATE 251 Then he double-checks his measurements …
PLATE 252 … scarfs the two ends …
PLATE 253 … heats the ends to a white heat, or approximately 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit …
PLATE 254 … and forge-welds the ends together. Though the circumference is decreased slightly by overlapping the two ends, the welding process itself as the ends are pounded and flattened together expands the circumference back out to its original size.
PLATE 255 Upon checking his measurements after forge-welding, Jud found one of the tires to be three eighths of an inch too large.
PLATE 256 Using a trick he learned from an old man he once worked with, Jud made a mark on the inside of the tire with a center punch.
PLATE 257 Then he took a pair of dividers, the legs of which were braced by a horizontal bar to keep the legs from opening or closing during the operation. Since he wanted to shrink the circumference of the tire by three eighths of an inch, he placed one leg of the dividers in the depression made by the center punch and made another mark with the punch three eighths of an inch beyond the second leg of the dividers.
PLATE 258 Then he heated a section of the tire, put it in a tire shrinker, and reduced the circumference until…
PLATE 259 … both legs of the dividers touched the two center punched depressions. Had he wanted to expand the circumference, he would have reversed the process.
PLATE 260 Now Jud sets a wheel on a wheel bench, dish down. Nearby, he builds a bonfire from scrap wood around its metal tire to heat it thoroughly.
PLATE 261 When the tire is hot, George Adams and Sam Everett help him carry it to the wheel bench and slip it down over the wheel.
PLATE 262 Using a pair of homemade tire pullers, Jud pulls the tire down over the felloes wherever it binds …
PLATE 263 … and then he and George and Sam pound it down into place as smoke curls up around them.
PLATE 264 When the tire is in place, the wheel is immediately taken off the wheel bench and rotated in a trough of water to cool the hot metal and cause it to draw even more tightly against the wheel.
PLATE 265 Last, holes are drilled through the metal tire and wooden rim at every seam between the felloes, and bolts inserted through felloe clips to bind the tire even more permanently to the wheel. This is a method strongly advocated by one of the wheelwrights in PCB who writes, “A heavy wheel needs but one-half to three-quarters dish, when the tire is on, when new (Jud’s has three quarters of an inch]…. [I am convinced] that [wooden] dowel pins should never be used [between felloes] as when the joints get loose, the pins invariably split the felloe. That felloe plates are much better than dowel pins. That tires should always be bolted on, as bolts are better than nails and are easier removed.” (Volume I)
PLATE 266 Four finished wheels.
PLATE 267
PLATE 268 Jud is now ready to make the axles and mount the thimbles, or spindles, and bearings, also called “boxing,” on their ends. Concerning the terminology, Jud says, “When we’d go to the store for these parts, we’d order ’spindle and boxing’ for a wagon.” He salvaged the thimbles and bearings from an old wagon …
PLATE 269 … burning the old hubs away so he could get to them.
PLATE 270 Next he measured and sawed out the new axles from seasoned oak timber.
PLATE 271 The critical part of the operation is shaping the ends of the axles properly to receive the thimbles and hold them at the proper angle. As with whether or not to dish a wheel, and if so how much, here there are also varying opinions. One area of disagreement concerns the amount of taper, or the degree to which the thimble should be tilted on the end of the axle. With a wheel that is dished, the prevailing opinion seems to be that the thimble should be tilted just enough to ensure that the bottom half of the wheel, whether rolling or standing, will always be at right angles to the bottom of the axle—or that the load-bearing spokes should be vertical (as shown in the diagram from PCB). The degree of taper, of course, depends on the amount of dish. Here Jud checks one of the axles from the old wagon to see how its blacksmith shaped the end.
PLATE 272 Plan one.
PLATE 273 The amount of taper next calls into question whether or not the wheels should have “gather” or “lead” as Jud calls it, and if so how much, gather being the amount the wheels are toed in toward each other as opposed to being set perfectly parallel. Those who argue for gather, including Jud, say it is not necessary in a wheel that is not dished. But when a wheel with dish is set correctly on the axle, the spokes on the bottom half that are bearing the load will be perfectly perpendicular, while those on the top will be canted out, as shown in the previous diagram. This fact, argue some, will cause the wheels to want to follow path A as shown in this diagram from PCB. Toeing them in slightly keeps them rolling straight and reduces the amount of resistance against the spindle’s nut. Too much toe or gather, however, and the tire will wear out too quickly.
H. L. C.’s theory. (From PCB.)
PLATE 274 Using the old axle as a guide …
PLATE 275 … Jud carefully marks the new axle …
PLATE 276 … and begins to remove the excess wood with a drawknife.
PLATE 277 As shown in this diagram, he removes more wood from the top of the axle than the bottom to give taper, and he also pitches the end of the axle forward one-half inch to set the wheels one inch closer to each other in front than in back, creating the desired amount of gather.
PLATE 278 When the end of the axle is nearly finished, he heats one of the spindles and slides it onto the end, and then removes it.
PLATE 279 The effect of this is to char the wood on those places that are still too high and give Jud some guidance as to how much wood still needs to be removed.
PLATE 280 He constantly double-checks his measurements and the fit.
PLATE 281 When the axle is finished …
PLATE 282 … he heats the spindle and drives it into place …
PLATE 283 … as smoke boils up around him.
PLATE 284 Then he clamps the axle to his workbench …
PLATE 285 … and slides on a wheel to see if it will run true. If needed, wedges can be used to eliminate any wobble. To Jud’s delight and satisfaction, all the. wheels ran true on this wagon, so this step was not needed. Had it been, Jud would have taken the wheel off, split the lip of the hub beneath the bearing and opposite the point of wobble, and driven a wedge into the split and cut it off.
PLATE 286 Now, the hardest part finished, Jud cuts and planes the rest of the timber for the wagon’s undercarriage. First he assembles the front end, which in this photograph is shown nearly finished. (From PCB.)
PLATE 287 A diagram of the front end of a farm wagon like the one Jud is making.
Front view of axle and bolster. (From PCB.)
PLATE 288 In making the front end, he cuts and shapes the hounds,
and bands their ends with metal for protection against wear.
PLATE 289
PLATE 290 The necessary holes are drilled for bolts, all of which will be countersunk.
PLATE 291 The crossarm for the front hounds is mortised, and fitted over tenons cut in the hounds’ ends.
PLATE 292
PLATE 293 The plate at the opposite end is bolted into place, top …
PLATE 294 … and bottom.
PLATE 295 The sand board is planed, cut out, and then shaped with a drawknife …
PLATE 296 … and the metal rub plate on which the bolster will ride is bolted down.
PLATE 297
PLATE 298 Placing the front axle, hounds and sand board together …
PLATE 299 … Jud prepares the hole in the center of the bolster for the kingpin, which will allow the front axle and sand board to turn freely under the bolster.
Foxfire 9 Page 26
