How they made wagon wheels for Borax mule trains

Kick Back and Relax in the Cheers! Forum. Thoughts on life or want advice or thoughts from other pca members. Or just plain "chill". Originator of da Babe threads.
Post Reply
User avatar
wvjohn
Posts: 9238
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 7:09 am
Contact:

How they made wagon wheels for Borax mule trains

Post by wvjohn »

awesome craftsmanship

User avatar
Pugsley
Posts: 7454
Joined: Mon Aug 19, 2002 11:54 pm
Location: NW Indiana
Contact:

Re: How they made wagon wheels for Borax mule trains

Post by Pugsley »

Not many people still know how to do stuff like that. Its similar to changing the tires on a steam locomotive.
User avatar
FlyingPenguin
Flightless Bird
Posts: 32773
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 11:13 am
Location: Central Florida
Contact:

Re: How they made wagon wheels for Borax mule trains

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Very cool. I love to download stuff like that and throw it into my documentaries folder.
"Turns out I’m 'woke.' All along, I thought I was just compassionate, kind, and good at history. "

Image
User avatar
normalicy
Posts: 9513
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2000 4:04 am
Location: St. Louis, MO USA
Contact:

Re: How they made wagon wheels for Borax mule trains

Post by normalicy »

I love this stuff.
User avatar
reno
The artist formerly known as Renovation
Posts: 1781
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:35 pm

Re: How they made wagon wheels for Borax mule trains

Post by reno »

very interesting I like to been a part of building them . old time wood working at it's finest . they did use a mixture of old and new Machining tools.
as a older Teen for one fall season I was hired at a Apple cider mill as the press operator. the press was a combo of new and old.
they made it look like is was still being run by a water wheel . but they updated it to a electric motor . the press still used a old chain that was made out of cast iron links . to run the press operation the general public seen. it also used leather belts to turn the gear in the attic that turned the spindle that turned the shaft . that the old gear the old cast iron chain turned on. every now and then one of the chains links would break .the owner found a local guy who would make replacements up for him. these the best I can describe them were about 2 inch long by 1 1/2 inch wide about 1/3 inch thick with a hook on one side . and when one broke you flip and slide the broken link off to the side of the connecting link and slide a new one on the same way. take like 3-4 mins to replace one. all we were doing was smashing - cut up apples in burlap sacks and using like wood stockade fence between the sacks up to 5 or 6 high. after you pressed the apples. we wheelbarrow the press apples in the burlap one layer to a wheelbarrow to a dumpster out behind the building and dump the crushed apples and bring the burlap sheets back for the next round . we tell people the smashed apple would be shipped to motts for applesauce. not sure how many fell for it but im sure some did. was a fun job as a teenager and lots of girls worked the counter and bottling area .always had a date for a good time :cool

http://www.franklincidermill.com/
User avatar
normalicy
Posts: 9513
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2000 4:04 am
Location: St. Louis, MO USA
Contact:

Re: How they made wagon wheels for Borax mule trains

Post by normalicy »

Neat story.
Post Reply