Hand cart

[Gun Tramp]

Take-down, of ash, mulberry, and black walnut. I forged the wingnuts from scrap well pump sucker rod; they ensure disassembly without tools and serve as cleats for lashing. The gap afforded by the radius of the washers prevents compressing wood around the through-bolt holes.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

That wheel looks a might more durable than the wooden wheels that I used for a two wheeled barrow. I found a pair of wheels from a place that made carts for the Cowboy Action Shooters to tote their gear and guns, and used those.

LD

 

[Nyckname]

It looks like a drive wheel from one of those old machine shops that ran everything using leather belts from a driveshaft along the ceiling.

 

[Carbon 6]

It's an old implement wheel, circa early 20th century.

 

[Gun Tramp]

Well done, Carbon 6. The wheel in question is one of the truck wheels from a Dowden potato digger, probably from the time period you suggest. I used parts from two Dowdens and one Hoover to build one good usable digger quite a while ago and this became an extra. This size (20") is now rare around here. The ash axle is fixed to the wheel, its ends are lubed with beeswax and bear in their respective journals in the cart sides. No historical basis here, as with much of my stuff, but I hope some of the details may be useful to others.

 

[Carbon 6]

Old farm implements are an art form of function similar to golden age muzzleloaders IMO.

 

[SDSmlf]

Well done.

FYI, when painting items such as this, I find that milk paint gives a look and finish that modern paints can’t come close to duplicating. May not show in photographs, but really changes how an item looks in person.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Good idea. Well done.

 

[Sidney Smith]

The wheel being so far out front puts a lot of the weight in the users hands. Better than dragging but not an optimum design. Better to have the wheel or wheels closer or even under the load.

I had a similarly designed cart for hauling deer. It was quickly scrapped as it proved unfavorable.

Not knocking your attempt, but there are designs that are much easier on the operator.

 

[Carbon 6]

The wheel being so far out front puts a lot of the weight in the users hands. Better than dragging but not an optimum design. Better to have the wheel or wheels closer or even under the load.

I had a similarly designed cart for hauling deer. It was quickly scrapped as it proved unfavorable.

Not knocking your attempt, but there are designs that are much easier on the operator.

Depends on how you load it. The long handles supply a lot of leverage. With or without a wheel you can move tons with a simple lever.
So the closer the wheel is to your hands, the less control you have, but the farther away the more control you have.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Depends on how you load it. The long handles supply a lot of leverage. With or without a wheel you can move tons with a simple lever.
So the closer the wheel is to your hands, the less control you have, but the farther away the more control you have.

Maybe so but a wheel far out also causes a lot of the weight to be in the users hands unless he places the load directly behind the wheel. In that case a short wheelbase would work much better.

 

[Carbon 6]

Maybe so but a wheel far out also causes a lot of the weight to be in the users hands unless he places the load directly behind the wheel. In that case a short wheelbase would work much better.

Right!
But again it depends on things like angle.
I you look at things like a hand truck or two wheel dolly that use the long leverage to balance the weight on the wheel at an angle , you can then easily move a 1000 pounds of weight. I've easily moved something as large as a pool table using a two wheel cart, by myself.

 

[Sidney Smith]

True however if you look at a hand truck the wheels are directly under the load, with the handle being the lever and the wheels being the fulcrum it's easy to see why it is so easy to move heavy weights. Now take that same hand truck and lay it flat. Put a load of some sort In the middle of the handle or even close to the wheels but not on the lip. Then try and move said load by only lifting the handle to waist height. You will feel a lot more weight in your hands because you've shortened the lever and moved the fulcrum in front of the load instead of behind or under it. This is what is happening with the above cart.

The deer cart I made in the manner above would have never worked for anything but a short haul. When I built my next cart I placed two wheels directly under the platform. Once loaded, with the cart I have now, I can move a deer with one hand. On flat ground anyway.

 

[SDSmlf]

The wheel being so far out front puts a lot of the weight in the users hands. Better than dragging but not an optimum design. Better to have the wheel or wheels closer or even under the load.

I had a similarly designed cart for hauling deer. It was quickly scrapped as it proved unfavorable.

Not knocking your attempt, but there are designs that are much easier on the operator.

The man repurposed a single antique wheel. Good job. To do what you suggest, one would need two wheels or raise the load over the relatively large single wheel. Plus Gun Tramp’s design is typical to what many call antique wheelbarrows, as in the photograph below.

Also hear they have a new design for rifles. Uses something called a cartridge and primer. With smokeless powder. Story is that it is much more efficient than a flintlock..... thoughts?

 

[Carbon 6]

Those are both nice "wheel barrows"

 

[Gun Tramp]

SDSmlf thanks, and your image is indeed the type of implement I studied before building. Just needed something to move my stuff around with at shoots...

 

[old ugly]

i think its great.
i have often thought of building a two wheel cart such as a smaller version of a red river cart that one man could push or pull to move camp gear or firewood.
although I think you should make a wooden wheel for it.
OU
tom

 

[Gun Tramp]

Thank you, Tom, a two wheel cart is just a few projects ahead for me. I built a too-large one some time ago to move gear into a deer hunting camp; we took turns pushing it and managed a wall tent and all our stuff in two trips each way. Smaller would have been better, and for heavy loads, a design enabling pulling as in your ox cart example. I understand the correctness of a wooden wheel, but a period correct wheel would take me about three years to complete. Two wooden wheels? I wouldn't be buying green bananas anymore by the time I got them done...