Well, in my 42 plus years being in this wheelwright trade,
restorations of old horse drawn carriage, buggies, wagons, coaches,
I have mentioned before that the vehicles themselves have become my instructors.
Well, when I look at the vehicles, and the construction methods that were made, or used,
I've become, by default, an observer of the craftsmen and craftswomen themselves also.
And that's what we're going to touch on this week.
Some of the differences as it relates to the chuck wagon undercarriages.
Why things are different, and some speculations.
Well as many of you have been following along in the rebuilding of this chuck wagon undercarriage,
you have been seeing the process that I went through on building these standards,
or sometimes called bolster stakes.
Some of these bolster stakes that I've built in the past,
remember had rings on the side.
Well this one has the rectangular
pair of sockets, clips on the front of these.
This side iron brace comes out and it has configuration like so,
and you remember from watching those videos how it's clipped underneath.
Well this one has a round top to it.
Sometimes people will think that these
square clips in front
are signature of a International style wagon, and they are,
but often times the wagons that I've had here that have actually been marked International,
have had kind of a square top instead of this round top on this standard, or bolster stake.
But the majority you know of these bolster stakes will have rings on the side,
and if you go back and watch the new undercarriage that I built for the sheep wagons,
that went to the Boise Sheep Camp company in Boise Idaho,
I also made them with the rings on the side.
These rings are often times just used as lashing points.
Sometimes there is some speculation
that the larger ones are on top and the smaller on the bottom,
that possibly you could put a pole in
to help support the side if you had a larger,
tall, loose bundle on the hay wagon
perhaps some straw or hay, whatever,
again, kind of speculation,
but often times they're used to lash the top to, or to lash the load to.
Well I have a number of these bolster stakes that I have laid out
and I'm kind of going to go through some of those differences and
some of the speculations as to why are they different.
Well I have laid out on my table saw, that you all know I do use as bench,
I have eleven different patterns of bolster stakes
and the irons that are used on these stakes.
And we're going to go through one by one and just see some of the comparisons
and some of the differences.
Each individual ones I have here
are distinctly different from the others,
although sometimes it is just a subtle change.
So these first two bolster stake irons seem kind of similar,
somewhat the same configuration.
Both are drawn down to the bottom of the bolster
and are turned over.
This one is rather short, This one was a little longer.
Kind of a minor difference.
The biggest difference between these two
is in the front back to forward irons.
This one is an eighth inch, maybe a little shy,
by inch and a half. This is more three sixteenths by only one inch.
The support here is designed to keep the stress front and back.
But both of these, and all of these in fact, are designed to keep the wagon box in place.
So these stake rings are a little different. They are both cast,
very similar, but this style here,
this ring was put on top of the rivet,
this top ring here was placed underneath the rivet.
Not a big difference, it was just somebodies idea of what worked in their
production lineup.
In over all height,
both of these are both about fifteen inches to the top of the irons.
The end cap iron is a little different on these.
This first one here is an inch and a half,
The second one is an inch and three quarters.
Again, it's that protective plate over the end of the bolster.
Both serving the same function,
but just a little bit different style, from a different company.
Well this one here, the next one in our lineup,
it's missing the end cap, which it would have had,
but the biggest difference here is that it doesn't come to
this outside support. It just has this ninety degree right angle bend here.
Again, a little different style. Now these rings are
different than these first ones.
The casting style is different.
You can see the casting style on this one here
it just runs a continual flat loop here.
Whereas this one has more of a shoulder
coming up to this hinge point.
So you can see there's a difference there in the casting style of the loops.
Just a different company.
Well this next one would have had the rings here.
They are missing,
but again it has
the bend over on the bottom.
This is a little longer, graduating here.
This one is kind of similar to the second one.
We'll readjust these here.
This one, the length of the front to back support irons
is significantly shorter on this one here than this one here.
This one has a single rivet.
This one has just the double rivet right on the top.
So you can see the difference in style of this support.
So as I bring this first iron up against the
stake iron thats on the chuck wagon that we're building,
you can see the similarities,
but the differences between the rings and the stake pockets on the front.
Also the front and rear braces,
This is a one inch where this is an inch and a half.
Both of these are inch and a half over the end of the bolster itself.
Similar style, maybe a little different in the extreme of the bend,
but very similar in style,
and again bent over at the bottom.
The second one again is having similarities and differences.
Where this one has
two rivets here close to the top,
it has the side rings instead of the pockets,
similar side brace here, bent over the end, little wider,
inch and three quarter instead of inch and a half.
And much taller in the front to back brace than what is on this one,
The third one that we looked at, you can see again the main differences here.
Heights are similar, but this is quite a bit narrower
than this one in here.
Again side rings instead of pockets.
The end cap here just is missing as well as the front and back braces.
So this fourth one again,
somewhat similar in these front - back braces,
but this one is very narrow.
When it is put down here,
upon the bolster itself, it's actually just a little bit shorter.
Again this would have had rings, but these are missing on this sample here.
So this next sample, again it doesn't have the side rings.
I thought maybe it was missing.
You can see these front- back braces are actually curved out.
This sometimes is a Studebaker signature.
A little tough to tell.
The bend on the bottom of this is quite extreme
compared to the short ones.
This one had a bolt that went through it.
But this one, instead of the side rings, has a side ring on the front - back brace.
This is kind of unique and a little distinct on this one.
So as you put it up against the chuck wagon one that we're working on,
this actually is the right side.
This ring would have been forward.
But again you can see the different bracing,
curved to the side instead of straight up and down.
And the round ring in front instead of these square pockets.
So this next one is significantly shorter.
This one is actually only about twelve inches tall.
It has home made style rings.
These are not cast.
They actually are welded here in the center.
A little bit shorter. Little wider than
perhaps this one here is,
So up against out chick wagon stake you can see you much shorter
and how much narrower it is.
Again, home made rings.
So the next one in our lineup actually as,
it's all a solid cast, a one piece of a bolster stake.
This is patented, May 15th, 1900.
Has the rings on it
So it's all cut, one piece.
Meant to just set over the bolster,
bolt through sideways, and has the side brace here.
So we can see the difference here between the two.
Somebody else's new innovation,
new design, for their idea of a bolster stake.
Now this one is very similar to the one that we looked here a couple back.
And the similarities are that they both have
this offset curved brace here.
So we'd think, well these are the same.
Very similar in their style of side brace.
But the significant difference here is they decided to use this style of a ring
where this one has the cast side rings
that some of the previous bolster stakes that we looked at.
So again, just a little bit different between these two.
Were they the same company?
Mmmm. Possible
This last one is different also.
This has an iron underneath,
which is very similar to the undercarriage that we just rebuilt.
Remember it also has this iron underneath.
With a bolt through instead being bent over like some of these others.
They one however, is a square top .
Whether this had rings on it or not
is unknown. They're missing if they were.
These front - back irons are actually very heavy.
They're inch and a quarter by a full quarter,
which is much heavier than some of these others.
This one here is only seven eighths. This one here is seven eighths.
But again, a square top,
two piece,
possibly it was broken, but it looks like it was bent and put in in two pieces.
So in comparison to the bolster stake that we built on this one,
the similarities are,
remember this was a rod and a bolt
that came through just like this, with a plate on the bottom.
This side brace is different,
but again, bolted clear through
and bent side irons, square topped.
So in construction to the bolster itself,
these two are similar where all the others were different, but square topped.
Now I have two old bolster that are just setting here on the bench.
This one in front is kind of different. It's an open top.
No signature of any rings that were in this one.
This side iron here is all together different.
See it all is bent in one piece, but it gives it side support.
Now this iron here on the inside is not a flat iron,
but you can see it has a beveled iron on it instead of square.
This bolster stake is extremely short.
It is only nine inches, maybe nine and an half when it was new.
There's no indication of any front to back support irons.
Very short, very sturdy, very plain simple bolster irons.
This one in the back is also very different.
You see a few of these around.
But there's no wood in this bolster stake at all.
It is all formed steel.
This uses a channel iron for the side brace.
It has a clip molded in to it, similar to the cast one,
where it would be bolted through,
but again in a very short bolster stake.
This one is at was maybe only eight inches tall.
Very short, no wood involved.
Well over the years, at different times, on and off, not a lot,
but I've been asked to go through and examine different
collections of vehicles, different styles,
and do kind of a running commentary on how they were built, and perhaps why.
And frequently the questions are asked, "Well why does this have a crowned axle,
why does that have a drop axle?
Why are these thirty eights in front and why are these forty threes?"
And different things like this.
And often times, as we have found with these bolster stakes,
or sometimes called standards,
there is quite a variety in the designs and makes and models of these different styles.
Well bottom line, in my assessment, and this is just my assessment,
and this has been my commentary to many of those who have asked these questions,
on why they are different.
My comeback is,
probably because it's the difference between Ford, Chevy, Kia, Mazda,
different makes and models.
You know, the basic function of all these bolster stakes,
the function is the same. It's to keep the box stable, in place, on the undercarriage.
Now the different designs and makers had their own styles of how to accomplish that task,
so even in this brief overview, we have twelve different styles
and if you watched the borax wagon, they actually have their own different style,
but basic bottom line function of them all
is to keep the box stable on the undercarriage.
How that is done, you can see there is a lot of variety.
So the foundation of all our cars that are on the road today
basically have four wheels, have an engine,
a place to sit,
and it will get you from point A to point B.
Now past that, there are many different styles to accomplish that,
and many different degrees of comfort and all this type of deal.
Well it is somewhat similar in the horse drawn era also.
You know we have to remember that we as individuals, as people,
vary quite a little bit in our desires, tastes,
and things that we appreciate.
Well the people were not different back in that day also.
People are still people.
As they say, there's nothing new under the sun.
So there is a variety in these, basically because of personal taste.
There is a function that has to be accomplished,
but how that is accomplished incorporates many different styles and fashions.
So that is very common here.
So when I show you on this channel, I'm may show you one style
of something that is accomplished, or how it is accomplished,
but there might be many different styles
to accomplish that same function.
So I hope this kind of helps clear that up
that's there not only one way
so to speak, to skin that cat.
There is a variety of ways to accomplish the end goal.
So this kind of demonstrates some of that.
So thanks for following along.
Thanks for watching!