On 7/31/2010 1:58 PM, Cross-Slide wrote:
On Jul 31, 12:10 pm, "Lee wrote:
"J. wrote in message

...



Working on a decorative wagon wheel in wood, but I'd really like to put a
metal tire on it. Now, that's no trick if it's just for looks--make a
steel ring that's close enough to the dimension that a little epoxy under
it will hold it, but the devil in me wants to do a proper job and shrink
the thing.

Trouble is that this is a no-burn area so I can't just light a fire in the
back yard and heat the tire.

So, any ideas on how to go about this? The wheel is 2 feet in diameter,
making the tire too big to fit in a barbecue or the like. If I was making
a bunch of 'em I'd be tempted to just build a charcoal pit big enough and
call it a barbie, but that's a lot of work for one wheel.

And yeah, I know I can find a blacksmith, but I'm more interested in the
making than in having a wheel.

Well, you could get a big tank of propane and/or other gas and just heat up
the whole thing. I would think tha it would take a fair amount of gas and
time.

As for a charcol pit, that would probsbly work. How about just making a
circular pit? Dig a hole in the ground a bit bigger than the wheel, but
leave the middle intact. So you are just heating the steel itself and not a
big unrelated area.

This seems like a whole lot of work and bother for a little authenticity.
Is it really worth all this trouble?

Use the tire as the fire ring....
Once it is hot enough, install.

There's a notion, but will that get it properly red hot?