Making Wooden Wagon Wheels From Landscape Timbers

Introduction: The Wagon Wheel

Aiding the exploration and expansion of the American west, wagon wheels are used these days for yard decorations. The Amish still manufacture and use wagon wheels for their horse drawn buggies, but most wagon wheels manufactured today are for aesthetics, and would not support the weight of a buggy. Once built for durability, the wagon wheel was made of resilient landscape timbers, and is now made from either manufactured lumbers and/or landscape timbers.

Wood Working

Constructing aesthetic or usable wagon wheels from landscape timbers requires the ability to use several different wood working power tools. Several different saws will be used, as well as a drill with various sizes drill heads, and screw guns. Other wood working tools that will be utilized include wood glue, pins, dowels, a jig for holding the wheel in place until dry, a carving knife, and sandpaper.

Selecting Landscape Timbers

A crucial step in making wooden wagon wheels from landscape timbers is the process of selecting the correct timber pieces to make a uniform wagon wheel. A large cross cut slice of timber can construct the outer rim of the wagon wheel, and a smaller cross cut slice can be used to construct the center hub of the wheel. For the spokes, timber of the appropriate circumference should be selected; several timber pieces should be harvested in the same circumference.

Readying the Timber

To construct the rim of the wagon wheel, a single solid piece can be hollowed out, or several segments can be pieced together. The rim or rim pieces can be readied for assembly by being cut into shape and smoothed with sandpaper. The hub can be made of a single solid cross section of wood, carved into shape by a jigsaw and sandpaper. The spokes should be completely or partially peeled of their bark, depending on the look one wishes to obtain, and formed into thin spokes at each end.

Forming the Wagon Wheel

Once the landscape timbers have been readied for construction into a wagon wheel, they are placed on a jig. The jig is a piece built to hold the parts of the wheel in place in the intended shape, while the wheel is being constructed. Working from the inside out is the easiest way to make the wagon wheels, beginning by drilling holes in the hub and attaching the spokes into the hub. The rim segments can then be drilled with holes accordingly and attached to the other ends of the spokes.

Wagon Wheel Aesthetics

One can make various sizes of decorative wagon wheels, and construction is typically a relatively easy process. When constructing a wheel for decoration, attention should be removed from durability and resilience.

Wagon wheels constructed from landscape timbers look wonderful hung above mantels, and surrounded by blooms in a flowerbed.