74 MODERN BLACKSMITHING 



notches can be made so that any sized wheel will just 

 hang down enough to cover the tire in the water. In 

 this concern you can give the wheel a whirl and it will 

 turn so swift that there will be water all around the 

 tire. It can be stopped at any time and the tire set 

 right, or the spokes tapped. With these accommoda- 

 tions and four helpers I have set six hundred hay rake 

 wheels in nine and one-half hours. This was in a 

 factory where all the tires were welded and the wheels 

 ready so that it was nothing but to heat the tires and 

 put them on. I had three fires with twelve tires in 

 each fire. An artesian well running through the water 

 box kept the water cool. 



If the fire is not hot enough to make it expand a tire 

 puller is needed. A tire puller can be made in many 

 ways and of either wood or iron. Buggy tire is more 

 particular than wagon tire and there are thousand of 

 buggy wheels spoiled every year by poor or careless 

 blacksmiths. In a buggy tire one-eighth of an inch 

 draw is the most that it will stand, while most wheels 

 will stand only one-sixteenth. If the wheel is badly 

 dished don't give it any draw at all, the tire should 

 then measure the same as the wheel, the heat in the 

 tire is enough. 



If the wheel is fellow-bound cut the fellows to let 

 them down on the spokes. 



If the spokes are loose on the tenon wedge them up 

 tight. 



