A spoked wheel has four parts: a hub that takes the axle, spokes that carry the load from hub to rim, felloes that make up the rim circle, and an iron tire shrunk on to squeeze everything together. With the tire a well-made wheel lasts 10-20 years of hard use; without it, expect 1-3 years before the felloes wear through.
Part of Wheelwright Craft
The parts of a wooden spoked wheel, what each one does, and which timber suits each, as the starting map for building one.
The Tire Holds A Wheel Together, Not The Joints
None of the wooden joints in a spoked wheel is strong enough to hold the wheel together by itself. A spoke tenon driven into a hub mortise or a felloe pinned onto a spoke would work loose within a season. What makes the wheel one rigid object is the iron tire, shrunk on hot, which pulls the felloes, spokes and hub into compression. That is why the tire is the last step of the build and the first thing to check when a wheel feels loose. The payoff is life: a wheel with its tire lasts 10-20 years of hard use, against 1-3 years without it before the felloes wear through.
What You Need To Know First
The wheel is made of four parts:
- Hub — the centre block, bored for the axle and mortised (cut with square holes) for the spoke tenons. Elm, because it resists splitting from all those mortises.
- Spokes — thin, strong members running from hub to rim. Oak, hickory or ash, chosen for strength and shock resistance.
- Felloes (said “fellies”) — curved rim sections, each joining two or three spoke ends. Ash, elm or beech, which bend or saw without breaking.
- Tire — a flat iron band, typically 5 cm wide and 1 cm thick for a cart wheel, shrunk around the outside of the felloes.
A 12-spoke wheel has 6 felloes, each spanning 2 spokes, and the mortises are 360° / 12 = 30° apart around the hub.
How The Parts Share The Load
The loaded wheel rests on the ground through the rim at one point. The tire spreads that contact over the felloes; the felloes pass it to the nearest spokes; the spokes carry it, mostly in compression, up to the hub; the hub passes it to the axle.
The wheel is also shaped, not flat. The spokes lean slightly out from the hub so the wheel is a shallow cone, a feature called dish. The reasons and the geometry are in Engineering Principles.
Where Each Part Is Built
| Part | Built in | Key skill |
|---|---|---|
| Hub | Hub Construction | boring, turning, cutting mortises to one angle |
| Spokes | Spoke Making & Fitting | splitting along the grain, tenoning, driving |
| Felloes | Felloe Construction | curving the wood, drilling, doweling |
| Tire | Iron Tire Setting | forge-welding a hoop, heating, quenching |
All timber must be seasoned, air-dried for 1-2 years, because green wood shrinks and loosens every joint. See Wood Seasoning for the drying rules and Spoked Wheels for a second account of the same build.
Common Mistakes
- Treating the tire as an add-on — it is the part that makes the other three work as one; plan the wheel around it from the start.
- Using green or part-seasoned wood — the joints are tight when assembled and loose after the first dry spell.
- Building flat — a wheel with no dish takes side thrust badly.
- Starting with a full-size wheel — build a 40 cm practice wheel with 8 spokes first; the principles carry over directly.
Safety
The tire goes on red-hot
Setting the tire means handling a band of red-hot iron and a bucket-load of steam. Never attempt it alone and read Hot Shrinking Process before heating anything.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Engineering Principles — why the wheel is dished
- Combine with: The Wheel — how a wheel and axle replaces dragging