Korean Kick Wheel

I'm still working on my new wheel. Yesterday I spent about 2 hours hand sanding the outside edges of both the wheel head and the flywheel. I'm actually not done with the sanding and I'm hoping that I only have another hour at it. I'm using fine grit sandpaper now to eliminate any remnants of the bandsaw. It is also really making the wood grain pop out and man is it smooth.

Both the flywheel and the wheel head have been tapered, or "shaped" to change the profile. Not neccessary but I thought it added a lot to the wheel as a whole. The name of the machine used to make the tapers is called a "shaper." Basically it is an oversized upside down router.

I'm still waiting for a friend of mine to give me some 2-inch diameter dowel rods. I am going to use these as the supports between the wheel head and the flywheel. When I get the dowels, we won't need the bucket and I'll post a photo when the next step is complete. Once I complete the wheel I'll post a complete materials list and the final dimensions.

Onggi Wheel

I made a lot of progress this past weekend. I finally got all my pieces glued together and sanded smooth. I had to spend antoher $4.18 on more glue. I now have about 12 and a half dollars and about 18 hours into the project.

The wheel head is stacked on top of the flywheel in this photo. It is 4 layers of cherry wood. The bottom layer, the fourth one down is about an inch smaller in diameter than the rest of the pieces.

The flywheel was originally 4 layers thick but I added another layer to the flywheel to make it approximately 3-1/2 inches thick. Once the boards were all planed they were a little thinner than I had originally planned on. So, I used a piece of walnut, not only to add some more weight to the fly wheel, but also to give the wheel a little more character. I thought it would make a nice contrast once oiled up and polished between that and the lighter cherry wood.

The next step, I think, is to add four round 2-inch dowel rods. These will be used as supports between the wheel head and the flywheel,. They will be drilled into each piece approximately 1-1/2 inches and glued in place.

Although I do have a drawing that I am working from, I'm basically just building this off of images and bits of information I have found on the internet. If anybody wants to share any information they have about this type of wheel I'd love to hear from you. I am still keeping a photo-diary of each of steps of this building process on my facebook page, if you're interested.

Korean Kickwheel

I have about ten hours into the kickwheel now and have spent 10 dollars on Elmer's wood glue. In fact, I need to pick up some more glue after work today. I should mention that I did not have to pay for any of the cherry wood I have used. I would guess that if I had to buy it, select cherry wood would cost about 300 dollars.

Anyway, I have cut all the rounds out for the wheel head and the fly wheel. Here I have glued the pieces together. After this I will have to glue these two pieces together. The wheel head will be a little over 3 inches thick.

After I planed all the pieces for the fly wheel I decided to add one more layer of wood to make it about 3-1/2 inches thick. I dedided to use walnut and add it to the middle layer of the flywheel. I think the contrasting colors of wood will really look nice. I'm keeping a good diary and posting step-by-step photos on my facebook page. Seems like I'm making some good progress now.