Well I ended up with a mild cold, sniffling and such. Yesterday and today off. I’m feeling better today and am considering going to work tomorrow.
I made some home made noodles this morning of one egg and flour to make a dough, rolled and cut, boiled in salt water. They turned out OK, needs salt in the dough. After that I looked it up on line, got it right. one egg, half cup flour per person, salt, knead it a lot. Cut, let it dry a half hour, cook with salt water and a little oil, (as I did). I didn’t let them dry so they stuck a bit, thinner would be better as they swelled. But they are good and easy to make. I even used the organic flour I got from Shelton’s.
I did play around today with the dust mask on. I hole saw cut two smaller 4″ circles for the 5″ hubs. I then laid out a new wheel pattern for a 40 inch wheel four inches smaller by just running another line off the old pattern card stock. Cut and folded to find the spoke centers, trimmed true to 2 inches wide, I drew them on the pieces of 2 x 4 wood I have left. I lucked out as they just fit for eight fellows (outer wheel pieces). They are all sawn and sanded just as the sun went down. This is a perfect size as the spokes fit easily on the lathe at 16.75″ and can be made of a three foot section of dowel instead of four. Figured, that’s ten and a half feet circumference for banding. The dowels will fit deeper at 3/4″ for a more solid fit. This is a good size wheel to produce in my shop.
I still want to make another set smaller yet for the “front” wheels, 36″ diameter or less. Maybe even carve the spokes, or not, we’ll see.
Interesting, I passed a trailer with a wooden wagon on it today, hit the brakes to get a quick look, very cool. To bad it was moving too fast to study. I did have a thought to cut a couple smaller circle cuts in the outer hub circles to represent the axle, chiseled out between. Thinking back, I should have done that while they were still attached to the board. I can hold them in the large bench vice or add a clamp. Another thought while sanding the fellows, spinning wheels are made this way too.
An experiment I tried drilling two 1/2″ holes offset to make a long 3/4″ slot didn’t work as the center went away. Perhaps a smaller hole filed to make the true rectangle spoke hub hole.
So another wheel is in process even before the first is done. Perhaps I could reuse the spokes and make another to match the 40″ set, but I think the first should exist as is. It needs glue.
A good day.
8shotoflove8 