Our Take on the Sheep Wagon

I would recommend a little research on wood species with good bending properties. I went with ash because that was recommended in the canoe plans and books. I've since built several pieces of furniture with ash. It looks like a wide grained oak. I would think that most woods could be bent if the laminations were thin enough, but some wood is brittle and would crack or break regardless of how thin it was. I remain in awe of your computer design skills, Doug
 
I was a custom cabinet maker for about 6 years, until a shoulder injury forced me to quit that career. I can still do woodworking as a hobby, but not for 8 hours a day, and I need help lifting some things I used to be able to toss around like a sheet of paper. Grrrrr - I hate getting old... :thumbdown:

I like ash, and it's nice to work with, but we're not sure what we want yet. I think something that light a color might be a bit too bright. I don't know - like I said, we're not sure what we want yet. For those who don't know what ash looks like, baseball bats and many tool handles (like shovels and rakes) are made from ash.

Another thing to consider is that when steam bending wood, it's best to start with green or air dried wood - anything but kiln dried lumber. That's a major factor for me, since a lot of species aren't available to me in anything but kiln dried form.

Here are a couple of sources I've used for various things, to include checking out the flexibility of a wood species.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Rx_For_Bending_Wood.html

http://www.connectedlines.com/wood/wood06.htm

The second URL is a link to the characteristics of ash, but other wood species can be selected by clicking the link of the species in question on the left. Not all species are listed though - poplar isn't on the list, for instance.

Just about any wood can me bent during the lamination process, provided you re-saw it thin enough. I think that's probably the way I'll end up going - we'll just have to wait and see...
 
Dusty82":2ycwnqbu said:
Heh - funny you should mention dimensions. I didn't really think about just how big this son of a gun is going to be until I started double checking to answer your question. This is gonna be a big bugger. It certainly doesn't qualify as a TTT anymore...
Click to expand...

A TTT sounds like it should be about size, but I'd rather think of it as being about spirit, imagination, individuality, and ingenuity to pick a few words that describe the distinction between TDs and TTTs and the commercial, mostly boring, boxes that pass for recreational vehicles. So, with this in mind, yours is certainly within the boundaries of a TTT in my book. Bravo.
:thumbsup:
 
I second myoung's sentiments!

I would add 'uniqueness' as well to his string of adjectives.

I'd also say to keep your proportions as they are. They look
great. Adjusting them to fit some arbitrary "ideal" won't do
much but compromise what you want. Since you have no plans
to garage it, height - with-in reason, and your design meets that -
is not a major concern, as long as it is road legal. Have you
seen the height of some new 5th Wheels?! Your height is short
in comparison!

Cheers,
norm/mezmo
 
Adjectives or nouns, thanks for them! I mean, as long as they're not 4-letter ones, I'll happily take them. :LOL:

Ok, call me one of those people who thought that the TTT designation was about size (maybe it's a guy thing.) I really thought that it had to be under 12' long to be considered a TTT. I love your description, though, Mike.

I'm rather blown away by how fast this design has come together, along with my wife's genuine excitement about the whole thing. I mean getting her to help me pick out colors and materials for the pop-up I'm working on has been like pulling teeth. She dove into this design with just as much enthusiasm as I did - scary, really...

I still have lots of questions, and I'll be looking for answers as soon as I figure out what the questions really are. :) Right now I'm still in the "feasibility study" portion of the whole deal, and I'll have to admit, it's looking very good. Proof of concept is next - as soon as I get a nice long stretch of good weather for it, that is.

And Doug, about my computer design skills. I'm winging it. I heard a lot about Google Sketch Up from woodworking buddies, and downloaded a copy. I downloaded and watched every tutorial video I can find, and refer to them often. Sketch Up has such a gentle learning curve, even a mope like me can use it. I give all the credit to the program and its designers. I've been using it for about 9 months, and what you see here is the result of just playing with it, making simple drawings, and practicing with it ever since. Literally anyone can use this program with a little bit of practice.

Give me something like AutoCad and I'm like a caveman with a calculator - so lost, I just want to take a club to it... :LOL:
 
Hey Mike/myoung,

Picky, Picky, Picky! -- Ha!!! I plead the early[late]
hour of my posting [4]. I meant to say "Qualities".
How it turned out as "adjectives" shall always remain a mystery!

Hey Dusty82,

It's great to hear the whole household is enthused! It should make
the build a cherished event. [Once it's over with of course.]

Your success with Sketch Up has me thinking of looking into it further,
especially if it can give you final measurements off the final design.
It is a great visual aide in the least.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo
 
Not to turn this into an advertisement for Sketch Up or anything, but if you draw it right and have the right add-ons and plug-ins, you can generate a cut list to print out and cut each individual part out from it. I've only done that once with a cabinet base I drew up for the kitchen, but it did work.

I'm serious when I say it's really very easy to learn. I just downloaded it and started watching the video tutorials online. I wound up downloading them so that I could refer to them easier when I'm using the program. I still refer to them a lot, and there's a lot I still don't know, but I can usually make it through a project.

One of the things I'm doing with it is drawing up some Gustav Stickley furniture designs in it. My wife got me this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Authentic- ... 269&sr=8-3

...and I've been slowly drawing each piece in Sketch Up. It's given me a lot of practice. I have yet to build any of the Stickley pieces, but having them in a format that's easy to navigate through makes it more likely that I will one day.
 
I've been following this thread closely and researching sheepherder wagons as I too would like to build one. I hope I'm not hijacking this thread, but for those who may be considering building a sheepherder wagon and don't want to use a real stove, here's an idea that I came across:

http://www.idahosheepcamp.com/cabinet_l ... ders_stove

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programing...
 
Thanks for posting that link. I saw that when I was first looking into sheep wagons and showed it to DW. Her reply was, "Nice try. I want the real wood stove." So, my course was set.

I had been looking into the sheet metal sheepherder's stoves vs this cast iron stove we have. Once I saw the price I backed off. I figure since we already have this one (it came with the house and we replaced it with a pellet stove in 2006) I save that expense. I'm not doing anything else with it anyway, so...

Still, it's a neat option for those who are a bit nervous about having a coal/wood burner in a trailer.
 
Dusty,

Yeah, I was posting it for others. I knew you were going to use a real stove. If (or hopefully when) I build a sheep wagon, I'd like a real stove. too.

Anxiously awaiting any update on your drawings :roll:
 
Actually, I haven't done much with the drawing at all. I've gone back and tweaked it here and there, changing an edge here and a profile there, but nothing that would stand out. I open the drawing every now and then and give it look over to see if I've missed anything, or drawn something that won't work in real life, but I haven't found anything earth shattering so far. To be honest, I've been engineering (in my mind) a cathedral box for the roof and figuring out how to securely mount the stove to the floor. I don't want that heavy son-of-a-gun breaking loose in a fender bender and joining us in the van.

We haven't made any decisions on the interior woods yet - I think DW wants to see the interior built before she commits. We've had a stretch of very nice weather here lately (we hit 67 one day) and I think I missed an opportunity to get the frame sandblasted and painted, but I know my luck. If I'd have started sandblasting, it would have snowed for a week straight before I got it half stripped.

I've been thinking about going ahead and starting the build thread, starting with pictures of the chassis as it sits now, and documenting the mods to it. The main reason I haven't is because it's gonna be a slow process, with updates coming very slowly - basically due to weather. About all I'll be able to document will be the chassis as it sits now, repacking the bearings and overhauling the brakes, and cleaning up the wheels. Not very exciting stuff. And with the temps not expected to be warm enough to sandblast and paint until at least April, I'm unsure about jumping the gun with a build thread.

I have two other camping related projects in works as well. We're still in the process of renovating our pop-up trailer, and I'm playing with ideas for a TTT based on the Coleman Saratoga frame I have. I'm currently in love with StomperXJ's Retrobox design (Thanks again for the SKP file, Stomper!) but I'm also totally enthralled with the Conqueror design here:

http://www.conqueroraustralia.com.au/

I have a very close friend who builds hot rods for a living, and he assures me that together we can most certainly build something very similar to the Conqueror.

Man - talk about not knowing which way to turn at the moment... :?
 
I don't see a PM - you sure it got sent? Last one in my inbox is from Jan 2nd.
 
Dusty82,
I have been a lover of sheepwagons as long as I can remember and have always wanted to own one myself. I'm sure you are aware of the prices asked for these wonderful abodes. Which is why I don't have one! I have thought much about building one instead and have kicked around the idea of a tandem axle unit and when I saw your design, I fell in love.
Is there anything happening with the build or is it still in the design/dreaming stage?
Not too far from you-I'm in southern Idaho.
 
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