Wooden artillery wheels

[HarryJ]

I have wooden artillery wheels on several of my antiques. Some of them are slightly warped: ie. the the edge wobbles in and out when turning as the felloe is not all in one plane. The wheels are late twenties vintage and are composed of massive spokes hubs and felloes. The question is: can they be pressed flat again in a press or is their some other way to true them?

[West Peterson]

Try

Andy Miller

19743 212th Street

Bloomfield IA 52537

[huptoy]

If you are near an Amish community, check with a wheel wright.

This a problem with wagon wheels.

[Guest Bob Kerr]

I was always told when storing an old car with wood wheels to jack the car up and get the weight off. Some other problems I heard about wood wheels from "Old Timers" was if buying a car with a cone clutch look close at the rear wheels and make sure the spokes didn't slip in the hub from a hot rod start, a wheelie popping stunt, or a grabby clutch. 490 chevys were famous for popping wheelies back in the day. Also for fixing loose shrunken spokes was to take a tank that would hold the wheel and fill it with boiled linseed oil and kerosene and soak them for a week or so. The cheap fix was to drive the car through a creek. I was going to suggest an Amish buggy maker but saw some one beat me to it. Those guys can work miracles! One thing you could try to get the wobble out is to find the place that is furthest out and hook a ratchet strap to the wheel and the frame an pull it tight an let it sit like that for a while with the pressure on it, you might get lucky, but it could take a year to get back right.

[Steve Braverman]

I've used Calimer's Wheel Shop in PA. Good people.

http://www.calimerswheelshop.com/

[HarryJ]

Thanks folks!! Another problem solved.