Setting a wagon tire

[J. Clarke]

Working on a decorative wagon wheel in wood, but I'd really like to put a metal tire on it. Now, that's no trick if it's just for looks--make a steel ring that's close enough to the dimension that a little epoxy under it will hold it, but the devil in me wants to do a proper job and shrink the thing.

Trouble is that this is a no-burn area so I can't just light a fire in the back yard and heat the tire.

So, any ideas on how to go about this? The wheel is 2 feet in diameter, making the tire too big to fit in a barbecue or the like. If I was making a bunch of 'em I'd be tempted to just build a charcoal pit big enough and call it a barbie, but that's a lot of work for one wheel.

And yeah, I know I can find a blacksmith, but I'm more interested in the making than in having a wheel.

[Joseph Gwinn]

A charcoal fire will do the trick, and most jurisdictions allow grills. It's the smoke they object to.

How big is the tire?

Joe Gwinn

[Larry W]

2 feet in diameter is about the size of a large pizza. Will it fit in your oven?

[J. Clarke]

Count up four paragraphs.

[Steve Lusardi]

Simple, make the ring 1/8 small. Roll to shape and butt weld. Dress with a grinder and heat with a rose bud acetylene torch . Set in place and let it cool. No smoke, no noise and no problems. Steve

metal tire on it. Now, that's no trick if it's just

little epoxy under it will hold it, but the devil in me

back yard and heat the tire.

making the tire too big to fit in a barbecue or the

pit big enough and call it a barbie, but that's a

making than in having a wheel.

[J. Clarke]

No. 21 wide by 17 deep. There's also the question of whether it gets hot enough for good take-up. The tire doesn't just have to fit, it has to be a little undersized when cold so that it loads the wooden parts in compression--that's where the strength of the wheel comes from. 500F will give about a quarter inch of expansion with low carbon steel, red heat will give close to a half inch. The various 1800s and early 1900s blacksmithing journals suggest that the iron in use at the time would expand more than this.

By the way, the large pizza from the big chains is 14-15 inch, the independents may go 18.

[J. Clarke]

Can the whole two foot diameter wheel be brought to temperature at once with a rose bud torch?

[RicodJour]

I counted up four paragraphs and it said some thing about finding a blacksmith, but nothing about the size of the wheel.

How big is the wheel? {ducking}

R

[Tim Wescott]

"The wheel is 2 feet in diameter, making the tire too big to fit in a barbecue or the like."

[Joseph Gwinn]

The diameter (2') is only one of the three needed numbers. What is thickness and width?

Joe Gwinn

[RicodJour]

Okay, are we talking about J. Clarke's feet or yours? One of each...? {ducking once again}

R

[J. Clarke]

An inch wide, 3/16 thick.

[J. Clarke]

Thinking about it, this is probably the way to go. Push me off center to get an oxyacetylene rig.

[Lee Michaels]

Well, you could get a big tank of propane and/or other gas and just heat up the whole thing. I would think tha it would take a fair amount of gas and time.

As for a charcol pit, that would probsbly work. How about just making a circular pit? Dig a hole in the ground a bit bigger than the wheel, but leave the middle intact. So you are just heating the steel itself and not a big unrelated area.

This seems like a whole lot of work and bother for a little authenticity. Is it really worth all this trouble?

[Jim Wilkins]

Three barbecues in a triangle?

According to this sectional tires are also authentic:

'd angle the ends of one felloe such that screws through the rim wedge it in.

Long ago I watched the smith at Mystic Seaport finish a wheel. IIRC he had a jig that clamped the wheel together and located the hot rim when he dropped it on.

jsw

[Joseph Gwinn]

Ahh. That's reasonably substantial. Thinner would be herder to keep hot using a torch. I bet a propane weedburner would do the job, especially if the heat were confined with some firebricks.

Joe Gwinn

[Cross-Slide]

Use the tire as the fire ring.... Once it is hot enough, install.

[Bruce]

Clear a spot on the ground and pile some charcoal over it. Perhaps use old bricks to shore up the outer diameter of the pile. I don't know if this violates your 'no burn' statute, but you could say you are roasting a goat.

Judicious use of a high output propane weed burner would eventually work as well.

-Bruce

[RicodJour]

Or build a Morris Dovey solar collector and heat it up parabolically.

R

[Jim Wilkins]

That's it! Just tell them you are resurrecting an ancient practice that requires sacrificing a goat.