Amish craftsmen utilize rough cut lumber straight from Amish ran lumber mills. As seen here, hickory is stacked and waiting to be made into felloes. The felloe creates the round part of the wheel. It takes two felloes to make one wheel.
Here you see smaller pieces of hickory stacked. These will be utilized for the spokes of the wheel. The size of the wheel determines how many spokes will be used.
Here you can see a stock of steel. The steel is bent into a circle by heating and forming around a mold. The steel will then be used as a sort of "tire" for the wooden wheels.
These hubs are made to order. The size of the hub depends on the diameter of the wheel and how many spokes are required. These hubs are for decorative non functioning wheels.
This type of diesel motor is commonly found in Amish workshops. Notice the pulley and belt. This pulley and belt turns a large shaft, which in turn, drives machinery that would normally operate on electric motors.
This machine, which operates by grooved wheel and belt, is used to make the spokes. It turns like a lathe allowing the Amish to fine tune a spoke design by hand.
This stock of spokes was turned on the machine above. This must be a common size due to the number the craftsmen have produced.
This machine bends the steamed hickory felloes. The bottom platform bends up as the center half circle pushes down. This machine usually bends 6 felloes at a time, which would make 3 wheels. The length of the wood and the size of the half circle press determines the diameter of the wheel.
The objects stacked in this drying room are felloes. Once the felloes are steamed and pressed, they are allowed to dry in this room. The dimensions of the felloe determines how long it needs to dry. Drying time can be anywhere from 5 days to several weeks.
This tool is used to line up the hubs, spokes and felloes. The hub is placed in the center and the spokes are placed from it.
Here you see functional hubs and spokes ready to have felloes trimmed and added. These wheels are almost ready to be put on the road.
This picture is of the beautifully finished product. Notice the different sizes the wheel wrights are able to make. Some even have rubber around the edge as a sort of tire. Feel free to contact us about any special wood wheel needs you may have!
