Lathing wheels

[Paul Howard]

Hey! The great pragmatist Dan Hughes showed me this neat little trick for lathing wheels. Figure out where you want your width boundaries, either eye-ball it, or mark with an ink pen or marker, next get a rough wood rasp or as I prefer- a Stanley brand 2 inch "Sure-Form" brand wood plane, it's not a true wood plane but rather a cheeze grater for wood - that's EXACTLY what they look like and they're available at most hardware stores. Get the little 2 inch model that has the (last time I looked in a store) RED handle and make sure the "blade" is oriented to cut as you pull (not push). Now leaving your wheels on your board, get on it and roll down the street (watching for traffic, included parked cars) and apply the rasp or Sure-Form plane to the edge of the wheel and continue until you reduce the width to where you want it. It helps to use both hands, one hand on the handle of the rasp/Sure-Form, the other on the deck whilst pressing your hands against each other in some fashion to steady the cut and make for more precise work. If you work with hand tools a lot like me , this will be a snap, otherwise it may feel awkward at first. To plane the inner edges you'll have to reverse your wheels, probably remounting them onto some other board in your quiver with wide enough hangers so the wheels fit "inside-out". If you want a smoother finish, just use a smoother file after using the rasp/Sure-Form plane. It's Lo-Tech and cheap if you don't have electric grinding/sanding tools. Happy New Year Everyone! - Paul H.

[Eric Groff]

Henry-Email me and I'll give ya the lowdown on shaping wheels, SSS does wheels for certain courses and surfaces, We dont share our secrets with just anybody, but I'll share them with you.

Arab

[Brian Morris]

can somebody post a picture of a lathed wheel? Can I do it with a bench grinder?

Brian

[Wesley Tucker]

Gilmour ingested toxic fumes while still at an early developmental age?
Hmmmm . . . you know, this explains quite a bit :razz:

[John Gilmour]

Use double face masks when latheing Urethane. The dust is toxic. You can't win a race if yer dead.

I lathed a few wheels in 1978 and breathed in teh dust, tasted it, and even breathed the burning urethane from trying to melt out the loose ball cup races in Caddillac wheels to put in sealed bearings. I didn't die.....but I had raging headaches and that is a sign of something ...not good.

[Henry Julier]

In my quest to be cool (aka better slalomer) I would like to know how one goes about lathing a wheel down. I saw at WLAC that Evans lathes down his wheels and they looked pretty nice. I have the tools and the people to help me at school with this, but I wouldn't know a lathe from the bottom side of your mom's buttocks so maybe you guys can fill me in?

Thanks,

Henry

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Ickboy

Editors NOTE: Click HERE also for lathing wheels.