[Houdini]

Have an extra wheel or two and wondering where you might store them, yet make them functional in the meantime. How about a stool.


I decided to make a stool for my shop with the stamped steel tractor seat I got at a flea market, and came up with using my very cracked extra 19" wheel as part of the base, to add weight as well as novelty.

The stool is about 24 inches high. I cut a circular piece of plywood for the base and attached 5 caster wheels, so it wouldn't be tippy. Then bolted down a 1.5 inch pipe flange to screw the pipe post into. The top of the posted is a welded on piece of flat steel to attach the seat to. The plywood was cut so it fit into the outer edge of the rim. To save buying fine thread bolts for the wheel, I tapped old lug nuts to coarse thread, as that was easy to do and allowed me to use standard coarse thread 1/2 bolts. Finally got around to painting the wheel bright yellow the other day and to my surprise, there are even more cracks and bad welds than I originally thought. Looks like even a whole section between two spokes around the hub was all cracked out. Makes me wonder (and worry) how a wheel could have gotten so badly cracked. And to think this was on my car once(prior to me owning it).

I need to still find something to put around part of the upper rim, as to use the stool comfortably, one would put their feet on the edge of the rim. Maybe slit a piece of heavy hose and put that on?


Anyone else find ways to use their old wheels.