Well it is most often times that the videos that you follow along on this channel are
about projects that take me a number of weeks, to a number of months, and sometimes even up to a year,
so when I like to finish these projects I put them together in more of a capsulated form of a single
video at the end that kind of gives a brief overview of what these projects are all about,
so those that are coming in can go to a playlist, called the synoptic videos,
and kind of get a bird's-eye view of some of these projects, and then, if you so choose, you
can go back to those particular playlists and see these projects in more detail. And that's
what I'm going to do this week, is I'm going to add another video to the synoptic playlist.
Well in April of 2014 Bobby Tanner, who owns the 20 mule teams that he pulls the borax wagons with,
gave me my first call, and it was my first introduction to Bobby and the 20 mule team
borax project. well in October of 2014 I went down to Death Valley and laid my eyes, and my
hands, on the remnant skeletons of the old borax wagons for the first time. I spent two
days there and met with Bobby and Henry Golis, who are part of the Death Valley Conservancy.
Well the winter of 2015 I started doing the drawings and blueprints of these wagons and in
February 1st of 2016 I got to go ahead and we started building these two wagons. December 20th
2016 these two wagons rolled finished out of the shop for the very first time. Then later on,
in 2019, I began the project of building the water wagon that would complete this complete set.
So in May of 2019 we took the water wagon down and we had a complete new set of borax wagons, ready
for the 50th anniversary of Bishop Mule Days, in bishop California. Well it has now been five years
since these first wagons went down to that Mojave Desert country and they have dried out, so as you
know, these wagon wheels have come back off of the two main wagons to be readjusted, now that they
have acclimated to the Mojave Desert. Well April of 2022 here I unloaded these wheels off of the
horse trailer that Bobby Tanner brought these up with and it was right before a snowstorm was about
to hit this part of the country, so we got these into the shop and began the disassembly process
to where we could adjust all the woodwork in these wheels. As you remember these rear wheels are 80
inches tall and weigh in over a thousand pounds and the front wheels are just under 800 pounds.
Well as I'm laying these wheels down, I'm going to slow this down so you can begin to see just
how loose these spokes are in the hub. I have it on a rewind and I'm going to do this three times,
and if you pay close attention you can see the flex in the spokes between the rims and the hub.
Well this flexing that you see is because the hubs have shrunk and pulled the spokes away
from the rim, or the felloes, so I have to decrease the circumference of the felloes to bring these
down to make contact into the hub again, and then reset the tires and this video is a capsulated
view of that process, which you can also go back and watch the complete process in the playlist.
Since the majority of the shrinkage has been in the hub,
we also need to go back and reset all the hub bands.
Well oftentimes, no matter where you live, springtime is kind of a turmoil time
weather-wise. We've gone from snow to sun, and now we've had some rain, so now the ground is nice and
damp that will allow us to build a fire outside the shop so we can heat these tires up to set
them back onto the wheels. I have quite a crew that shows up to get this project accomplished.
Well ideally, if you ever make it down to the Bishop California area, stop by the Laws Museum
and you're most likely going to see these wagons on display. They have a special building there
built just for them, along with the American Mule Society. Second best, is if you ever get a chance to
stop by here in Joliet on a summer vacation, or if you're passing through, I did build an extra
wheel, so I have one sitting here you can stand up against and perhaps have your picture taken.
Anyway, I appreciate you following this whole process and the life
of the borax wagons as they were built here in Joliet, Montana.
Once again, thanks for watching!