"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Working-with-your-hands Wednesday
5 comments:
JeffS
said...
That's a monster wheel! And for a chandelier? Whoa.
The power tools helped, but building those wheels was a labor intensive effort. I expect a whole lot more labor was needed before the advent of power tools and hydraulics, even with steam engines.
True dat, ck. Just hammering the metal "tire" into shape was a job unto itself. Heating and lifting that monster hunk of iron into place was yet another.
And the hub -- that required a hefty lathe.
Some of the tools appear to be highly specialized (such as the "bits" used to shape the pegs on the hub ends).
Of course, back when wagons were the only means to haul goods (outside of a train, that is), purpose built factories were common, and set up for expressly for this purpose. Production had to be high; this video is a craftsman working in his shop, building to order.
Still, you get a very good idea of the skill levels required to build these wheels. The measuring and fitting alone is an art.
I've been subscribed to Dave's channel for a couple years. He is very down to earth, highly skilled and a joy to watch. The major reason he began making YouTube videos was to provide a library that captures the methods and techniques employed by old-time wheelwrights before they are lost forever.
His brother-in-law, also in Joliet, Montana, repairs/rebuilds carriage lamps and recently started posting videos on how it is done. He's as skilled as Dave but in an entirely different discipline.
Thanks, Zardoz, for that info. I'll have to check the channel out.
Somewhere, I have a color brochure from the turn of the last century which features various wagons and carriages manufactured by Studebaker. They were certainly beautiful conveyances.
5 comments:
That's a monster wheel! And for a chandelier? Whoa.
The power tools helped, but building those wheels was a labor intensive effort. I expect a whole lot more labor was needed before the advent of power tools and hydraulics, even with steam engines.
Mounting a "tire" was considerably more difficult in those days. We didn't even look at the hub, I'm sure that was a project on it's own.
True dat, ck. Just hammering the metal "tire" into shape was a job unto itself. Heating and lifting that monster hunk of iron into place was yet another.
And the hub -- that required a hefty lathe.
Some of the tools appear to be highly specialized (such as the "bits" used to shape the pegs on the hub ends).
Of course, back when wagons were the only means to haul goods (outside of a train, that is), purpose built factories were common, and set up for expressly for this purpose. Production had to be high; this video is a craftsman working in his shop, building to order.
Still, you get a very good idea of the skill levels required to build these wheels. The measuring and fitting alone is an art.
I've been subscribed to Dave's channel for a couple years. He is very down to earth, highly skilled and a joy to watch. The major reason he began making YouTube videos was to provide a library that captures the methods and techniques employed by old-time wheelwrights before they are lost forever.
His brother-in-law, also in Joliet, Montana, repairs/rebuilds carriage lamps and recently started posting videos on how it is done. He's as skilled as Dave but in an entirely different discipline.
Thanks, Zardoz, for that info. I'll have to check the channel out.
Somewhere, I have a color brochure from the turn of the last century which features various wagons and carriages manufactured by Studebaker. They were certainly beautiful conveyances.
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