Machine making of cartwheels......

[toolsntat]

Love to see all sorts of owd stuff and came across this in one of Jack Hargreaves "Out Of Town" programmes (parts 2 & 3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F4kIAD7 ... re=related Check out the amount of stock in the seasoning shed :shock:

From what I can make out it's in Kent , wonder if it's still about :?: :?:

Andy

 

[Ian]

Excellent!

Cheers

Ian

 

[ondablade]

I can remember seeing wheels made that way (but using manual tools and processes) in my grandfather's sawmill back in what would have been the very early 1960s in Ireland Andy. Horse drawn delivery carts standing around at various stages of construction and primed in red lead too. It must have been right at the end of there being any demand for them - by then the odd local delivery guy still used a horse and cart to deliver coal or whatever, but that was about it..

The film by comparison shows a very fancy factory with lots of bits of specialised equipment - surprising in one way just how much equipment was in use. The version i saw was as best i can remember simpler - it involved for example heating the tyres before fitting in a fire which started as a ring of straw on a concrete floor.

I can see by comparison how these guys got the cost advantage talked of in the film - but they obviously had the volumes to support it.

The grandfather's sawmill was driven by a large water wheel via overhead shafts and exposed leather belts too, and made all kinds of stuff like wooden hay rakes, forks, shovels and the like. The felled, milled (6ft + belt driven rip saw through cutting whole beech trunks anybody?) and sold their own timber too....

 

[Benchwayze]

Andy,

I thoroughly enjoyed that. It’s the sort of programme to give me a reason to get 'Sky'; if I could convince SWIMBO! It was fascinating stuff that also happens to illustrate my philosophy on hand-tools v machines, in woodworking.

It's an example of machines having been designed to do a specific task, without altering the design and construction details of the end-product. A legitimate use of machines in my view. Does the wheel care? I suppose not. It just works in the same way it ever did.

Today many woodworkers design furniture so it can be made by the machines they happen to have. There’s nothing terrible about that either, but it’s not so satisfying to me. I suppose what I am saying is, design your piece, figure out what joints you will use, and then decide on the means of cutting them. (Sometimes a design feature means you can't use a machine!) That makes sense to me, and it is also good planning.

I also noted that the design and construction of the wooden wheel (Great name for a pub :lol: ) hasn't changed since 'Ben Hur' was on Pole position! A testament to good design if ever there was one. (I won’t go into the H&S aspects of that shop!

Thanks again Andy.

Regards
John

 

[SammyQ]

Just like Ondablade, this brought early sixties memories for me too. Grandfather was the town blacksmith and I can remember 'sweating' a rim back onto said wheels when they had been 'thrown' by a rut or stone. Like someone above said, this factory was positively luxurious with all their gear. Grandpa had a hearth, pillar drill and mechanical hammer, plus a plethora of hand tools. Everything was done by hand, should it be shoeing a Clydesdale, re-toothing a harrow, or making an extended starting handle for a mini....now, I wonder who can remember WHERE you put the handle into for a mini??

Sam, with smithying genes and the smell of hearth and hoof in his memories.

 

[RussianRouter]

Excellant,remember watching JH progs when I was a lad.

Craftsmen...a dying breed. :-(

 

[newt]

Very nice great to see how it was done. No glue up panic

 

[9fingers]

Very nice great to see how it was done. No glue up panic

Talking about a glue up panic!

I'm in the middle of a job with 62 components needing a simultaneous glue up. I've managed to split it into 2 stages with half the parts dry fitted whilst t'other half dries but still fairly stressful!

Bob

 

[MIGNAL]

Excellant,remember watching JH progs when I was a lad.

Craftsmen...a dying breed. :-(

Still a few hanging about:

http://www.wheelwrights.org/craft_working_frame.asp

 

[RussianRouter]

Still a few hanging about:

http://www.wheelwrights.org/craft_working_frame.asp

Nah man,I'm talking in general.

Needed a couple of walls plastering a few months ago,made a couple of phone calls locally and two said they can get the walls looking flat...well they didn't get the job,bloke I hired used a derby which you don't see most plasterers doing ie this bloke was a master plasterer and the walls were completely flat.