[SEL] My Ignorance - Forged Welded Wheels

[MaytagTwin at aol.com]

Hi Paul,
In looking at your wheels, I suspect they are iron or steel, not cast  iron.  
I don't think you can forge weld cast iron and also, when I look at  the ends 
of the spokes as they poke through the rim, it appears they have been  
hammered over like rivets to hold the spokes to the rim.  Cast iron doesn't  respond 
well to being hammered.  It will shatter rather than spread.
 
All this is speculation on my part as I am no expert.
 
Regards,
Ron Carroll
Clearmont, Missouri
 
 
In a message dated 2/14/2007 8:02:42 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
paulmaples at sbcglobal.net writes:

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