[TheForge] Shrink fitting steel to wood

[Larry Brown]

You do not want to over heat the piece of iron, A smith I saw do it once 
heated it till a pine splint just started to burn /char. His reason was if 
it was too hot it would stretch before it shrunk and then the tire would be 
loose. He had his own formula (a secret) that he used for sizing, but as 
Grant said it must have been a close to fit as the wheel hardly burned as 
it tightened. You could hear it compress the wood as it cooled.
Larry Brown

At 11:41 PM 8/9/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Shannel:  The closer the fit when the pieces are cold, the less heating is
>necessary.  The pieces should nearly fit cold, with the heat applied to make
>the last little bit of fit-up possible by expanding the metal ring enough to
>snugly fit.  Is the wooden hub oak? Maple?  Ash?  Hickory?
>
>
>Grant