Chain-link fencing--I have saved some of the plastic netting from bagged potatoes and onions from the grocery. If stretched and mounted onto posts and frames made from thin dowels and sprayed with a few coats of aluminum paint it makes a chain-link fence.

SUSAN AT THE WHITE RABBIT'S HOUSE

Chain link fence: I made my chainlink fence from the discarded air filter from our car. It's a 12" cylindrical gadget with a fine mesh that encases the outer diameter. The mesh is approximately 4" high and 16" in length. I would think you could find it at any automotive shop or garage.

You will need the remove the outer band and pull the mesh away. It's easy to do. The mesh itself will cut with heavy duty scissors. I used aluminum tubing for the posts securing the mesh to the tubing with 32 gauge wire and using 5 min epoxy glue. Allow to dry thoroughly.

You can finish off the fence post with small beads touched up with a silver paint marker.

Pearl

Barbed Wire Fences: are easily made by stringing wire (not too light weight) and then heat your glue gun and barely touch the wire and pull it away (when you pull it away you get a long string). Grab a hold of the strings (I do maybe 10 or 12 touches and then snip off the strings). After doing that the full length of the wire do the other side. I then paint to look rusty and you have a barbed wire fence.

Donna Brown

Metal wagon wheels: I made a "Prairie Schooner" that required metal rims to the wooden wheel. What I did was to take some solder That was in a roll and about 1/8" in diameter and pounded it with a hammer. This flattened out the solder and made it pliable enough to place around the rim of the wheel. Any more questions email me privately.

Drbob...Delray Beach FL

Metal snaps for wheels: Patricia King uses snaps for wheels for vacuum cleaners, carpet sweepers, trolleys...

Havana (FL) Holly

Creasing lead tape: I think you could crease your tape more smoothly by running an old blade down the middle to "encourage" it to fold where you want it. You don't want to cut it all the way through, but depending upon your tape, you may have to experiment with how much encouragement is needed.

Dani, in Bradshaw, MD

Spline used for rubber tires: I have been looking here and there around the house and wondering out loud where I could find some rubber tread to fix onto the wheels of a metal buggy I bought at Michael's. It was originally a Christmas ornament, and I have already taken off the carriage part, intending to replace it with a wicker basket. (I hope, if I can figure out how to do that.) Well, my husband came up with some extra spline that he had used to repair screen windows. He split them down lengthwise, wrapped them around the wire wheels, and PRESTO! Rubber baby buggy bumpers!! Now I just have to come up with the buggy part.

Linda Barrett

Feathers: Your feathers probably do not have any living creepy crawlies as most of these things need blood to survive. If you are still worried, take your feathers outside on a calm day (no wind). If you are really squeamish, wear rubber gloves. Dump the feathers in a coffee can. Saturate a few cotton balls with an insecticide spray and place the cotton balls in with the feathers. Cover tightly and leave for about a week. This will take care of any living creepy-crawlies. DO NOT USE A PLASTIC CONTAINER! The insecticide sometimes melts the plastic. As far as cleaning, sometimes you can use a warm water with a SMALL amount of detergent to wipe them. Do not dunk them, they are hard to make naturally looking again. Usually all they need is to be "married." This means joining the little individual fibers that form the feathers back together again. If you look at the feather closely, you will see little "barb like" protrusions on each individual feather fiber. Don't get discouraged, you do not have to each feather individually. Just take the feather by the big shaft end and gently smooth the feather in the direction it grew out of the bird. The feather fibers usually will go back together again and look good as new.

Mosesjoe

Wagon wheel templates hint: My hat goes off to Bill Hudson. I read his instructions for fabricating wagon (all types) wheels. Fantastic. He mentioned cutting out a template to mold the damp cardboard around. He was explicit in that it be round and the edges be true.

To accomplish this end, it pays to invest a few bucks in hole saws. These little babies come in various diameters and cut perfectly round discs. They usually are sold in sets of 3 or 4 cutters all of various diameters and are designed for use in power drills. The guide drill bit also gets the center of the circle for you.

Drbob...Delray Beach FL

Hole saws will work but it is hard to find the exact size you need and they are hard to get the cut piece out of without damaging the piece. Unless you set your saw up in a drill press it is nearly impossible not to cut the hole square to the piece so you still have to square up the edge of the blank. If you do use a hole saw I would recommend you buy only the very best. Saws available at home improvement stores usually wobble and cut egg shape holes. On top of all that they are expensive. A complete set can set you back enough to afford a decent scroll saw or drill press.

When I first built wheels at 15 I didn't have the luxury of power tools. We had just moved into our log cabin and at that time did not even have electricity. I had to make every thing with hand tools. I had only a hand cranked hand drill, a coping saw, some files and sand paper. Here is how id did it.

MAKING WAGON WHEEL FORMER BLANK BY HAND: I drilled a 1/16" hole in the center of a piece of plywood about six inches square. I set a pencil compass at the radius of my wheel blank and using the hole for the point, traced the circumference of the blank onto the plywood. Then I drew a second circumference 1/16" outside the first one. I cut the wheel blank out carefully with a coping saw. The better you saw this the less you have to work to finish it out.

I put a #6 1 1/4" flat head sheet metal screw through a washer then screwed it through the hole in the middle of the blank. Then I screwed the blank down to the flat side of a piece of 2X4 about a foot long. I then held a course file against the edge of the wheel i was going to finish off. I marked a spot on the base just out side the file and drove a long screw into that spot. I used this as a leverage and then turned the wheel blank by hand against the file until it was nearly filed down to the finish lines. Then I followed by a finer file. Use sand paper only to take the rough splinters of the edges. You can check the edge of the wheel with a square as you are working it.

Bill Hudson ... Eugene, Oregon