Old horse drawn wagon

Howard H. · Feb 7, 2010

I was just wondering what advice anyone would give on restoring an old horse drawn wooden wagon.

The wood is mostly weathered away enough the pieces are falling out of the wheels, but complete enough to have patterns of most pieces. All the hardware seems to be there.

The wagons are pretty long - about 15 feet - and the wheels are 12 spoke - about 3 feet high with heavy steel rims.

I've done quite a bit of woodworking, but am unsure how tough rebuilding the curved wheel hub sections, spokes, etc, would be...

Thanks for any comments,
Howard

just another old geezer · Feb 8, 2010

le sueur mn antique show has a wagon wheel shop. maybe someone there would have your answers.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 8, 2010

Have you ever seen the weekend program "The Woodwright Shop" with Roy Underhill? He does things the old fashioned way. At the end of the show they show clips of various things including quenching a steel ring on a large wood wheel. I looked for "woodwrightshop.com" and soon found Underhill's site. He has books with information on this no doubt. Good luck, I wish I was close to join in.

VaTom · Feb 8, 2010

Don't know your wagon of course, but wheel joinery is the same as for traditional furniture/fixtures. The rim sized to match the wooden wheel. You need to work backwards. The rim gets heated before application, making a snug fit. Spokes are simply dovetailed. Several choices available for connecting the wheel arcs.

Great project, which will likely make you a much better woodworker. If you have trouble with the curved joinery, a book you should have on your shelf is "Circular Work in Carpentry and Joinery" by George Collings, ISBN 0-941936-22-8. Originally published in 1886, my edition is 1992.

Been several years since I spent a wonderful afternoon with the wheel-maker at Colonial Williamsburg. He was much more knowledgeable than the assistants assigned to talk about furniture. I was surprised at the similarity of construction, never before having looked closely at a wheel.

Enjoy yourself.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 8, 2010

Amish wagon maker?

Anonymous-0 · Feb 8, 2010

While building wheels is not as easy as it might seem, if you're a decent woodworker, you should be able to accomplish the task. I found an excellent book (manual) on wheel building on ebay, but I think the Rural Heritage website sells it also. ...D

Rusty wheel · Feb 8, 2010

Go to braggswagonworks.com and take a look. I've been there and this guy is truely a master craftsman. Well worth the visit. rw

Tim in OR · Feb 8, 2010

You might try googling "Orenco Wagon Company". Rob and his Dad are friends and work wonders on that stuff. If you can figure out how to get ahold of Rob, he may share some good info.
Tim in OR

Old horse drawn wagon

Howard H.

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just another old geezer

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Anonymous-0

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VaTom

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Anonymous-0

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Anonymous-0

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Rusty wheel

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Tim in OR

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