Quittin' Time! (For now!) 8/1/17

Whew!  My goal was to get the wagon back on the road by the end of July, and that I did!  I've never been so relieved to get a project done!

In the last post, I had finished priming the seat and set it aside while I tended to the wagon box itself.

The box received about eight coats of sanding primer, which then had to be...sanded!  Like taking the fingernails down to the quick sanding!

I wet sanded the box, and later the seat, with 400 grit sandpaper, and just like the last project, you can still see faint sanding scratches in the final finish.  600 grit produced a finer finish on the last project, but I think there are adhesion concerns, so I decided to just live with it.

Hubby erected a plastic paint booth in the shop for me.  I couldn't have gotten such a nice result without it!

Once the wagon box was finished, I couldn't wait to put it back on the gear and re-mount all the peripherals...

After my descent into yet another crazy task!

I decided to pinstripe the wheels and gear!

Hey, only 64 spokes!

As long as you don't inspect the amateurish job minutely, the slim, pale yellow pinstripes add a nice touch.

I used a Beugler striping tool for the wheels, and 3M fine line masking tape for the gear.

We took it out for a couple of drives before parking it in the carriage shed, shiny and sound and still needing a few details tended to!  But the project ate up the entire month of July, and now it's time to turn my attention to other summer projects around the property!  This coming fall, I will bring the seat in for upholstery, and tend to those little details that didn't get done in July!

See you again in the fall!

Progress 7/6/17 - 7/12/17

I decided to stop at four coats of primer (plus a "fog coat") as I had done extensive surfacing to all the parts during the repair phase.  There shouldn't be that much "leveling" to do during the wet sanding process. The seat can now go back into storage while I work on the box.

So the wagon came out of storage today!  One task needed to be done prior to taking the box off the gear; mounting the "rub rollers".

Rub rollers mount to the lower edge of the wagon box.  In a tight turn, the front wheel will hit the body.  The wheel is then in danger of "binding" and may flip the wagon!  This is particularly dangerous with hard rubber tires.  The solution is positioning the rollers so that the wheels strike them in a turn.  The large roller will turn and prevent the wheel from binding.

This picture shows the rubber tire cramped against the lower edge of the wagon box before the rub roller is installed.

Here's the hard rubber tire in contact with the roller.












Unfortunately, the old wheels are not true, and they wander in an out as they turn, so the challenge was positioning the rollers so that they contact the rubber tires through the entire in-and-out travel of the wheels.  It took the better part of an afternoon of holding my jaw just right, but eventually I got them on pretty much where I wanted them.  So tomorrow, the wagon can go down to the shop where the box will be taken off the gear again, and priming will begin.

7/7/17

At long last the wagon was wheeled down to the shop today, where the box was taken off.  Turned upside down here for protective coatings of primer and paint.

No great pains taken, just enough sanding for paint adhesion, then a couple of passes with the spray gun.  I've officially used up my first quart or primer.

Tomorrow, the bottom gets a coat or two of enamel.  Then it's time to build a paint booth in the shop, in preparation for finishing.








7/12/17 Update

The wagon box now has several coats of primer on it, with one more to go tomorrow.  It will be ready to paint as soon as the "paint booth" is constructed in the shop!

Painting Preparations

I think maybe professionals have - or had - "jigs" to mount carriage parts on so that they could be easily tilted and turned for painting.  I don't have anything like that so I'm trying to figure out sensible sequences for priming and painting, and I don't think I chose the easiest method.  Oh well.

I don't want to get primer overspray all over the inside and bottom of the seat, so I spent some time masking today.

Bottom...

...Inside.

  In addition, the corners still needed a little cosmetic work so I smeared them with marine epoxy "fairing compound", then sanded them back.  These photos don't do justice to how smooth and attractive the corners now are.  I have every reason to believe the repairs are permanent.  I'm sure a hairline crack will develop in the paint along the joint, but movement's to be expected.  The repair materials are extremely stable.  The original panel in this photo is the one on the "bottom of the pic with the "vertical" looking grain.  This panel has the "correct" edge and the mismatch is the fault of the panel with all the big white spots, which is not an original panel.  So the white epoxy seam is actually attached to the top panel, and has been sanded to mate with the edge of the original panel.

Other side.  Same deal with the panels.  The vertical panel with all the grain is original.  The one with all the white is the very poorly fitting replacement panel.  The epoxy is adhered to the replacement panel and contoured to match the original. These joints are not glued.  Movement is natural. Reattaching the little epoxy chip went as planned, then the corner received the fairing compound treatment.  This seat isn't going to get any more ready to paint!



Notes for me:  According to previous project blog, spray primer with 1.5mm needle and tip in gun.  Thin primer appox 9 oz naptha to 1 qt primer Pettit EZ Prime.  25 sec viscometer.

For this job, Schwartz Primer, 7 oz naptha to 1 qt primer.  25 sec viscometer. 

7/2/17 - Barb's Shadetree Wagon Painting Shop is Open for Business!  

This morning I set up the little gazebo in front of the shop for the priming operations.  I don't mind a little airborne stuff on the primer (it dries very quickly), but the trees "weep" a little honeydew on surfaces below, and I've learned to keep my work covered!  There will be lots of wet sanding, which is an outdoor project.  While the priming operations are going on, a plastic "clean room" will be erected in the shop for top coating.

I ended up giving the seat one last sanding with 400 grit, because 220 left the wood feeling too furry.

And boom!  A hundred years of ugly wiped out in 20 seconds!  LOL!

I haven't used my spray gun in two years and it was sheer joy to fill it and fire it, and find that it was in perfect working order!

It took less than a minute to shoot the first coat of primer, and about 20 minutes to clean the gun!

We are looking forward to perfect painting weather for awhile, so I will probably give the seat about five more coats of primer over the course of the next week, one coat per day.  Then it will be on to priming the box!

Wake Up Rusty!

...Or you'll miss your "a-paint-ment!"  LOL!

Oh, come on, have a sense of humor!

July First, and resuming the restoration project is right on schedule.

The wagon seat and box repairs have sat through a cold wet winter and endured their first 100 degree day.  The seat came down to the shop today for inspection and preparation for painting.

During the winter I realized that the lower seat back panel and the bottom seat boards were not original.  (However they were installed after the Great Wood Boring Beetle Attack!) This accounted for a poor fit in the corners.

One task that I did today, was to re-contour the corners for a nice appearance.

There is one small adhesion fail in the epoxy that I should be able to fix this evening.

New contour.

Next came a sanding-fest, beginning with 150 dry, followed by 220 dry, inside and out.  The surfaces had been coated with clear wood sealer, which had to be completely deglossed.  All the surface imperfections were filled last winter.

I always have a hard time deciding whether to disassemble and paint, or leave intact.  Plus the challenge of painting inside and outside.  I decided that there would be far too much damage to disassemble, paint, then reassemble, so I tightened all the fasteners, cut off long threads and began.

The inside of the seat will all be covered with upholstery, so I want to stress that painting the inside and the underside of the seat is strictly for protection and doesn't reflect what the finished exterior is going to look like!  If you think these pics look rough, consider that the pic at the top of the page is what was under the original upholstery!

The fastest way to be over and done with the non-visible areas was to spray with Rustoleum rattle can paint.  I used their high-build primer, which I liked quite well.  The spray enamel was the usual pfft.  But both primer and top coat are done in an hour.  The exterior is going to take days!

Under side.

And a couple coats of enamel, on the non-visible surfaces and I can forget about them for now.

Tomorrow I need to erect a portable gazebo to work under outside.  I need to drain the air compressor, install water/oil filters, gather up my spray guns, thin some primer, and maybe shoot the first coat on the external surfaces!

There may be up to six prime coats, depending on how wet sanding goes!

A darned, tiny little spot of epoxy did not adhere well in the corner.  Application fail, not the product.  Applying a little "Liquid Wood" to re-adhere it.

The underside paint actually came out quite nice!  And no - no part of my house is safe from carriage restoration activities!

It's a Planter Box! It's a Packing Crate! Noooo, it's "Rusty" the Spring Wagon!

For the first time in a little over two months, Rusty's seat is (temporarily) sitting on the box again!

But I can tell you, that even after the preliminary fit-up, the box went back together kicking and screaming!

Everything had to be kind of loosely reattached, then gradually tightened down all over.

The metal threshold and the tailgate hinges were a pure nightmare!  Now I realize why I had to originally take the tailgate off in pieces.  When it comes time to paint, the tailgate will once again come off in pieces!

So, I get to look at it happily for a little while, enjoying the fruits of my labor!

Then I need to take the seat back off to nail the floorboards down, then flip the box over to install screws and cut off long bolt threads.

Then it's back onto its running gear.  I will need to drill a couple of bolster holes in the new sill.  Did not trust the old sill for a pattern!

And back into the shed for the remainder of winter.  Warm weather means painting begins!

See you next spring!  Thank you for following along!

1/26 Update

  One more day's work remained, to drill new sill/sidewall screw holes, drive the screws, nail down the floorboards and cut long bolt threads.  (Some bolts remain long because they will be removed for painting.)

The wagon is now ready to be re-attached to the gear and moved to the shed for storage until warmer weather arrives and it's time to paint!

And finally...back on its gear and into storage until painting weather!

New Wood!

A few days ago, we got the call from Woodcrafters that our new pieces were ready to be picked up!

The inventory is, one new white oak sill...

...five new fir floorboards...

And one new white oak plank for the center of the seat.

Not until I began installing the sill and drilling critical holes did I realize the challenge I had presented Woodcrafters!

The old boards were so rustic, unevenly sawn and bowed, that the task of  milling something "matching" took a whole lot of intuition!  Especially in light of the fact that the lad who did the work had never been up close to a horsedrawn wagon, and was pretty much "flying blind" except for the old pieces I'd supplied as patterns.

Several bolt holes had to be drilled into the new sill, by drilling down through pre-existing holes in the old wood, through the new sill, then hitting a pre-existing hole in the crossbeams under the sill.

Somehow, I managed to hit the target holes in every case!

In this picture, I'm using a long "aviation" drill bit to bore through the existing rod hole in the side wall, down through the new sill, and into the crossbeam at the front of the wagon.

Floor boards trimmed to fit and carefully spaced.  The original boards varied in width!

Once I got the floorboards temporarily bolted down, I tried fitting up the tailgate, only to discover that the hinge pieces on the original threshold, bolted into their original holes, did NOT want to line up with the hinge pieces on the tailgate - ALSO bolted into the original wood and holes!

The problem I think, stems from the fact that the original bolts were slightly smaller than 1/4", and when I replaced them with 1/4" carriage bolts, I had to drill out the holes in the tailgate just a little.  Apparently, just enough to slightly misalign the hinges.  I did get them together, by loosening the nuts on the tailgate, but I'll deal with it more directly when I turn the box upside down.

This morning's tasks begin with bolting the new floorboards - which were coated with clear wood sealer last night - to the crossbeams.  After that, I had some fun checking fit on certain items (it was fun because everything fit!)

The dashboard fits!

Close up of the dashboard bolt going through the corner brace.

The bolts for the corner brace had to be bent like those on the left side, to thread them through all the layers of uneven holes.  Now the bolts can come out to have the heads "customized" to look more original.

The pivot for the brake handle bolts to the underside of the new sill.  I had a fair bit of room for error, drilling those bolt holes!

But the handle bolts on just fine.  The ratchet mounts in original holes on the side board.

One final dismantling of the right side, to surface and seal the new sill, then "final" reassembly can begin!

Preparing for Reassembly

The left hand vertical side wall has been repaired and surfaced.  The left ends of the cross beams have been repaired and surfaced.  The left sill is repaired, surfaced and temporarily re-installed.

While waiting for the new woodwork for the right hand side and floorboards, the left sidewall is pretty much ready to reattach.

The primary fasteners of sidewall-to-sill are long rods with countersunk heads that pass edgewise through the sidewall into the sill in five places.  Because there were no washers used on the nuts under the sill, I had to destroy the nuts, and hence the rods, to get the rods out.  I ended up making new rods out of "all thread" or running thread, after having not such a good experience trying to hand-thread 1/4 inch rod!  I used a little permanent Loctite between a hex nut and one end of each rod (there are twelve rods total) to create a "head" for each of these long bolts.  The hex nuts fit right down flush in the holes on the upper edge of the side walls.  (I have to do just a little grinding to make them fit perfectly).  The heads will be covered over with a strip of metal.  I'll use square nuts and washers on the bottoms.

Update 1/11/17...

Before reassembly of the left side, pretty much all of the crossbeams had end split repairs done.  These photos of repaired/resurfaced boards look pretty rustic, but hours have gone into preparing these boards to receive paint this coming spring, then it will look NOTHING like it does now!

The reassembly was fun and interesting, and the new rods went perfectly into place with plenty of thread to spin the bolts onto.  In order to finish up, there are screws that go up through the sill from underneath and into the panel, but that is for later, when I can turn the box over.  But I can tell you, that is one sturdy panel!

All the ironwork has been cleaned and de-rusted, and all the rust pitting has been filled.  These pretty braces are only installed temporarily, and will have to come off for painting, but in the meantime, there's no better place to store them than on the wagon itself!

The ends of the bolts look ugly, and surely they must be turned the wrong way?!  But in fact, the threads of the bolts face outward, so there are no sharp edges to snag feed sacks and such in the wagon bed!  All these fasteners are random, just to hold things together temporarily.  When the final reassembly takes place, the threads will be cut flush with the nuts.

This is the inside, left front corner.  Rather than traditional iron-reinforced wood framing, the corner is reinforced with this casting.  At the top of the casting, you can see a projection with a hole through it.  This receives the bolt for the dashboard!

Again, the fasteners are random for now, as the front panel has to come off in order to install the new floorboards (that are on order).

This is the outside view of the above corner.  The corner is covered with a sheet metal plate which thankfully, was little damaged by rust.

The hand bored holes through the wood are a nightmare of twists and turns, as the hardware holes do not match up perfectly.  It will be a bit o' fun to try bending bolts so that the heads will lay flat against the sheet metal!

The new wood for the right hand sill and all new floorboards is on order (custom milling).  It WOULD be here soon, but the local world has come to a standstill due to rather extreme (for us) winter weather.

While waiting for the new wood, it's time to focus on cleanup and repair (split ends!) on the right side.

Rusty Bolts Fear Me!

On Thursday, 12/29/16, We took the bugshot right hand sill of the wagon box to Woodcrafters in Portland, to have it, and the five floorboards, duplicated.

I could not help but think that even though I had thoroughly stabbed the left hand sill, looking for bug damage, I had missed something.

And I had.  I was able to chip some wood away on the edge of the sill, adjacent to the floorboard.

I was concerned enough that I called Woodcrafters to leave a message asking for a mirror image of the right sill.

But my chisel wasn't going in very far and I wondered...which prioritized the removal of the left sidewall, and then the sill.  The picture above is all that remains of my wagon box!  A few floorboards, and some crossbeams!

After really digging and prodding, all I came up with was some very shallow excavation in a confined area.  I'm going to repair it and re-use the board.

In the meantime, I have removed the last of the nuts and screws and all the hardware.  Most of the remaining repair work is cosmetic, until the new floorboards and right sill arrive!  This is the edge of the sill that faces inward toward the floorboards.  The larger area is the upper surface (where your feet would rest), and the deepest part goes in about 1/4".





Update 1/2/2017...

I carried through with my decisioin to salvage the left sill, and here it is, reinstalled.

This is the area where the main edge damage occurred. The end of the board is the front of the wagon.

Prior to re-installation of the sill, it was necessary to clean up and do some end-grain crack repairs to these pretty crossbeam ends.  A pretty iron brace goes from this piece to the side wall on the exterior of the wagon...

This is the center one on the same side.  It was pretty much perfect.  I will have similar repairs on the right side.

The front vertical panel has been relieved of end splits and minor blemishes...

(The ends of this panel are covered by sheet metal plates.)

And finally!  The left side vertical panel has come in for end split repairs and blemish removal.

All that's left now is to finish up some of the metal work while awaiting the new wood!