Monday, October 1, 2012

Wagon Wheels


Hunter’s wife, Leah, is a cowgirl.  She owns a couple of horses and enjoys barrel racing with her best friend. 

















 
For years, she and her family have attended the Chuck Wagon Races http://www.chuckwagonraces.com/. This is an annual event that features a national chuck wagon race along with a weekend of food, fun and music. It’s a family tradition that she looks forward to every year.
Hunter wasn’t able to attend this year. He’s a full time fire fighter and works most week-ends. However he was inspired to craft a wagon wheel chandelier.  He started by selecting a couple boards about 12” wide and laying them side by side. He chose rough cut oak planks and made sure the wood was completely dried out to prevent cracks and splitting. Using a pencil, he drew a circle on the boards and cut it out using a band saw. Next he fabricated metal shims to connect each section of the circle. When the circle was complete the connections were clamped and glued together until set.
 
Now for the hub. The first one we made was wood and metal but it didn’t give him the look he wanted so he fabricated a metal one using the plasma torch. Once that was completed we were able to determine the spoke length. He used smaller blocks of wood and turned them down with the wood lathe.
 
One of the more delicate parts is getting the size of the ends to match the holes drilled into the wagon wheel. This is time consuming and requires a lot of patience. But it’s so rewarding to be able to create something you’ve only seen in your mind.
 
The spokes are clamped and glued in place until set. At this point, Hunter fabricated a metal band and attached it to the outside of the wooden wheel.  
 
 
His wagon wheel is complete but the chandelier is not. He still has to decide the lighting design. And while he’s deciding, I think I need to make my own wagon wheel but as an end table. 
 
 
 

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