[SEL] My Ignorance - Forged Welded Wheels

[Paul Maples]

Well gang the longer you stay in this hobby the more you learn...right?

I got a real good deal on a set of cast iron wheels, flat spoked, and they arrived today. I plan on using these on a cart I will build later for my 5 HP Lister.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g36/wheelterrapin/wheels002.jpg

When the wheels arrived today I open the first box of four and was looking at the wheel and I saw a crack. I thought "Darn" the guy sold me a wheel with a cracked rim, oh well I will get it welded.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g36/wheelterrapin/WheelWeld.jpg

I then opened up the other three wheels and "Quadruple Darn", all of the wheels had cracked rims. I begin to look more closely at the cracks to see how bad they were and I noticed that the crack on the face of the rim did not line up with the crack on the inter-face of the rim. I then saw that the metal had been scarfed (Over-lapped) and it was then a light turned on in this hole riddled brain of mine....these wheels have been forged welded (Hammer Welded)

Anyone got any idea how old these flat spoked wheels are that had the rims forged welded together?

Just curious.

Paul