The art of a wheelwright

[Nitro]

My great grandfather was a wheelwright,and I found a very detailed video of the modern way it is done now.

This worker is using some modern tools to perform his job,something that required using all hand tools back when my great grandfather was involved in it.
The steel hoops would have been hand forged and hammer welded with blacksmith techniques instead using fabricated fixturing.

Just the same,the process is still very time consuming with tons of needed skills.

 

[Danny 74]

Sadly the old arts and crafts are dying out now.. People were so clever what they could do with their hands. Very skillfull people indeed.

 

[Mia]

Great grandfather worked in a buggy factory for a part of his life, don't know if he made buggy wheels, although he certainly had lots of skills from stories my father had recounted.

This man in the video incredibly talented and knowledgeable in his abilities, he has to know so many things and master them all to make this wagon wheel. Something I could never do, seems far too complicated. It's no wonder that few people can combine all their skills to create something as complex as this.

 

[FreeDiver]

I wonder if the aspies of that time were blacksmiths. Looks like something that I would have done if I live in the 1800's.

 

[Nitro]

I wonder if the aspies of that time were blacksmiths. Looks like something that I would have done if I live in the 1800's.

A wheelwright made wooden wheels,while a blacksmith worked in forging metal.
My great grandpa is suspected to be autie along with quite a few other relatives,so I am sure that many on the spectrum did complex jobs back then.

 

[What is your Song]

I wonder if the aspies of that time were blacksmiths. Looks like something that I would have done if I live in the 1800's.

As I understand it...... Aspies seem to invent new ways with things? But all that Heat? Light? and clanging? Ouch!

 

[Warmheart]

Great to see the lathe wood working! One can only imagine how much more went into this way back before modern shops. Being a wheelwright would have required much skill.
I love the geometry of it, the pattern-thinking, the complexity. I can imagine being a wheelwright might have been a good fit for someone very intelligent, determined, and talented.

 

[Nitro]

 

[Nitro]

 

[Pariah Dog]

Old world craftsmanship is incredible. I sometimes wonder how the economic side of that would work. To think of it, how many hours would it have taken a man to build a wagon wheel? And how much would he make per wheel which would work out to something/hour. This man used power tools through most of the build, imagine only having only the old world tools available? And on the other side the cost to buy the wheel. We live in a world where goods are cheap, mass produced and disposable. This obviously was not the case through most of human history.

Funny to think how much the world changed during the lifetime of the "greatest generation." My grandpa died in 2000. When he was a young man he was delivering coal by horse wagon.