So here is the completed milk wagon for my wife’s middle school production of Fiddler on the Roof. As I mentioned in the thread linked above, I started with these instructions and made an open box with holes through it for the axle, a 1-1/8 inch dowel. (The odd diameter was dictated by the center holes in the decorative wheels I bought for the project.)
Based on a suggestion by folks in the other thread, I found some split shaft collars to hold the wheels onto the axle, but since none were readily available with 1-1/8 i.d, I had to rout grooves in the dowel so they would clamp down tightly.
I screwed 2x2 rails around the outside of the top of the basic box, drilled with holes for the 3/4-inch dowels that make up the upper half of the wagon. The dowels are glued only to the top rail so that three separate comb-like pieces can be removed for transportation and storage.
The front handles are broom handles threaded at one end, and here’s where one of my “clever” ideas didn’t pan out. I hoped I could make them easily removable, but some testing with the mating broom heads made it clear that it wouldn’t be simple to mount them firmly enough to be practical. I ended up just cutting off the threaded ends and screwing the handles to the bottom of the wagon with long wood screws. I would have preferred a more durable solution, but expediency won out.
Here’s the wagon after initial construction was complete. (Click on the image if you’re not seeing the whole picture.)
Now, obviously Tevye’s wagon is not supposed to be brand new construction. So next I had to age it.
It may be a little hard to see, but I dented the wood with a hammer and heavy chain, and used a saber saw to slice wedges out of the edges of most pieces, then sanded the cuts smooth.
At this stage my wife made a passing remark on the size of the wagon, so before moving to the next step, I shortened its length by a foot and the height of the dowels by about eight inches.
A nice, clean, new finish would also be anachronistic, so I created an aged look by applying dark stain and, while it was still wet, brushing on a little light blue latex paint we happened to have, then blending them together with a wide scraper.
Here is it with the faux antique milk cans we bought.
I put gallon-sized ziplock bags filled with sand in the cans to give them some heft. That worked nicely, but after shortening the wagon, their weight made the front of wagon a bit too prone to tip up when they are at the very back, behind the axle. Removing half the sand helped somewhat, but I think I’m going to screw two pieces of 1x2 across the floor, above the axle, spaced so the cans fit between them. This will keep it balanced better and also prevent them from sliding around.
New tools acquired for this project:
- Wen drill press (A really nice tool, but way overkill for this project. I should have bought a much smaller and lighter one.)
- Ryobi router (Goes with my other Ryobi 18V tools.)
- Set of Forstner drill bits
- Set of router bits
I’ll be calculating the total materials cost for reimbursement in a few days, but I think it came to roughly $400. Total construction time, not counting design, research, planning, etc., maybe 30 hours?
I’m pretty happy with it, and my wife is very happy, which is all that matters.