Repairing Chain Links & Mounting Wagon Brakes | Engels Coach Shop 

Someone needs to award Dave an honorary degree in forensic mechanical engineering to recognize his ability to build a wagon using only a few crumbs of rust and some wood dust as plans.

Well, thank you Sir; for sharing🤠👍 My grandfather's trade was wagon building, karet mager, in Danish. Loosely translated, wagon/chariot builder. I'm now 62 years old. My first 4 - 5 years, I grew up at my grandparents home. Following him and the neighbour, a blacksmith, at work. And I loved every minute of it. And now I have lots of great memories from those years. Thank you Sir, for bringing back all those years and memories🤠👍🙏 Greetings from Denmark 🇩🇰🤠

WOW! I sometimes feel like you are a re-incarnated master wagon builder from the late 1800s. 'You make Fridays a day to look forward to. Thank you for imparting your knowledge to all of us.

I am amazed at the engineering that went into designing these wagons. These were definitely not just thrown together by someone. I was also surprised at how heavily built the Death Valley water wagon was. They were definitely the truck of their time.

I wish my father were still around to watch your videos as you do your work. He would be fascinated.

If you get right down to it, the most important tool in this episode was the pencil. Because nothing else works until the pieces are marked properly.

I just purchased 800 dollars of Makita hand tools. Now I just need another 100 of your videos to learn how to use them . Lol. I love your channel . Best to your family . Thanks.

As always Dave great video & another example of skill & craftsmanship applied to refurbishing a wagon’s gear. Take good care and stay safe and well.

Good episode Dave; thanks.

Glad to see that you cut the excess off the ends of the bolts and hammer them almost flush with the nuts, preventing the nuts coming off and much safer not to have sharp edges of thread sticking out in the event of an accident and reducing the weight of the vehicle, so helping the draft animal. Very much enjoy watching your films. I use draft horses in the UK and keeping the vehicles light and safe is so important. Thanks.

As always: I'm fascinated by your work! Thank's for sharing!

Your attention to detail is incredible.

What I seen here was a master working on one of the largest 3-D puzzles I have ever seen. To know where each and every bolt & rivet goes is simply amazing.

That fact that you are so willing to share your knowledge, skills and abilities with us is a gift to us. I really enjoy watching you see a problem, figure out a solution and then fix the problem and make it look like it never was a problem. Thank you for what you do. I just recently learned your shop is a leading supplier for springs used in the building of Cyclecars, your buggy seat springs it seems are great for using as front transverse springs on those small cars.

thank you so much for your videos. Millions of students dream of such a teacher. unfortunately we do not have such masters

Dang. Just watching all the effort you have to put into rebuilding these using modern equipment and techniques and patterns to build off of. Gives me even greater respect for the original builders usung draw knives, Bits n Braces, and hhand saws n files. You would never immagine the multiple hundreds of hours they spent building these. Yet still produced so many of them.

No detail left undone. Right down to recreating the look of a blacksmith forged part after welding and grinding it for a repair. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Brilliant as always. I can’t believe that you remade the old chains and attachments instead of replacing them, but the result is spectacular. I also love that you’ve kept the original timbers for reference. How I wish I could visit you in MT, but COVID …! Hopefully one day. Thanks, Dave.

Another interesting and informative video Dave, thanks. I like your meticulous attention to detail. Rebuilding the worn brake parts, and. keeping as many original parts as possible is what I would call a sympathetic restoration, preserving the 'soul" as it were of the wagon.

*- Excellent video showing us a complex assembly, Dave.* *- I get such a kick out of you figurin' out how all this stuff fits together.* *- It makes me laugh imagining you chuckling when thinkin' about us out here trying to keep up.*

Always look forward to Friday evening with Dave.

Thank you Mr Engels.... i always enjoy my Friday evenings with on a weekly basis here in amarillo tx... until next time have a good weekend and Blessed day today Mr Engels 🕊😊👍👍

The blending of Iron and Wood is pleasing to my eye! Why, it is almost like they were MADE for each other!! :-) :-) Thanks, Mr. Dave!!!

Lord as always fascinates me with your work, it reminds me when in my Sicily the wagons dominated the transport of things and people. a lost time that no longer makes me hear the clatter of blacksmiths with their forges and carpenters. thanks from the city of Catania.

Very Enjoyable video. I always like to watch real craftsmen work.

I greatly enjoy watching you work. I always learn something. Keep up the good work.

wow.. thats alot of metal hardware..thanks for sharing.. Black Art Forge..

Once again thanks for the video.

To have so much knowledge and taste for the work that he does. This is a one man operation at it's best.

Building and rebuilding wagons makes for riveting watching. 😉

The iron may rust & the wood will rot but Mr. Engels gives it a shot. Take it all apart & set it on the floor. Think about it, maybe just a little more. Make some patterns from old rotted wood, does it fit? Good! Sand blast & paint the old rusty iron. Reuse it, it's not retiring. Now the fun begins , where do you start? Look at the way it all came apart. This goes here, that goes there but what about that? Time to have a scratch under the hat. He's never really in the dark, he just looks at that rusty mark! (Sorry, feeling poetically inclined today.)

Great videos!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing your OUTSTANDING craftsmanship!

Thanks You Dave God Bless America

Awesome video

1st time I have ever seen you give that Stanley square the the eagle eye treatment whilst drilling those holes,thanks for the videos and the opportunity to look over your sholder🤗😎🤗😎

Thank you for bringing me this video.

i am always amazed at what you do; and i also always learn from watching you. Thank you

Good Job ! Which proves once again that you can still achieve something when you are a little older. Young people today can't do that because they have no idea how to do it. And not at all interested in such things.

I'm sure if I brought you a single shackle from an old buck board, you could build an entire replica based on that one shackle!! Probably as good if not better than the original!!

Gotta love witness marks.

Love the demonstration of skill and the thought process needed to re-engineer this. Thanks for sharing.

5:54 & 6:14 : I love that I just learned the Idea of using a hot piece of iron/steel to scorch ream the holes in the wood. Thanks for the tip.

Hi Dave😊 thanks for another interesting video, all those metal fittings on the floor must test your memory as to where they all go, but they all come together like magic, nice workmanship as always, cheers mate, stay safe, best wishe's to you and your's, Stuart UK.

Good afternoon to all from SE Louisiana 22 Jan 22.

Amazing work, I am amazed at the complexity of these vehicles more bits that in a modern car it seems, how you can disassemble and figure out where it all goes later astounds me.

You amaze me every week. Thank Dave.

I just can't get enough, I could enjoy your work all day it's that fascinating, you are an awesome craftsman, thank you for bringing back history...

Great job Dave, you are one of a few who can take a sow's ear and make a silk purse from it. You do awesome work on anything you do. Thanks so much for sharing with us, Fred.

One day this summer, I hope to take a road trip to your town and stop in for a chat. Parts of Montana I haven't seen yet, and yours is one of 'em. Ron

Beautiful work. I love it when you patch up the old worn bits and make them functional again.

bonjour, tu fais un travail remarquable dans les moindres détails, et on comprend la fonction de chaque pièce au fur et a mesure, incroyable travail historique du charron, merci. hello, you do a remarkable job down to the smallest detail, and we understand the function of each part as we go along, incredible historical work by the wheelwright, thank you. Pierre de Vierzon France.

I look forward for each new video you put out. This is my most favorite RU-vid channel.

This is so fun to watch, very relaxing.

Craftsmanship at its best

It is fascinating to see the 1800's technology in rebuilding the wagon as all of the pieces assembled serve a purpose. What's equally interesting is the "who" designed all those pieces way back when. Thanks again Dave for the Western history 1800's. Keep on restoring, we'll keep watching.

I always like watching you work.

Dave - I can only imagine how you feel if you ever watch any Westerns such as Wagon Train and their ilk that show wagon in runaway situations and turning over and smashing themselves to kindling - know how much effort you put into restoring and rebuilding such wagons.

I very much like the weather 'report' at the beginning of your posts, good to see how it is in your area, and to compare it with ours here in the west of Britain.

Thank YOU for posting

I enjoyed Mr. Dave Engel by watching your videos even I am from India. I expect more and more things from you.

You're an amazing craftsman and an entertaining videographer.

Nice work Dave. A pleasure to watch

Dave, another great job! You are extremely talented! Always a pleasure to watch. Thanks for caring enough about the history and craft to preserve it!

I really enjoy watching you work.....Thanks for sharing.

Nice work Dave.....From Brazil.

Amazing restoration job and excellent video! 👍

Rebuilding those chain links in-situ, indexing the square nuts everywhere, beautiful work. I just rebuilt and reinstalled my rear axel on a 97 land cruiser, and I think this wagon axel is more complex!

yay and just wow !

I’m a simple man. I see anvil and I click.

When in doubt, throw it out! Okay, perhaps not great advice. Nice work, as usual.

During the rebuild Dave comes across several metal parts worn well beyond a safe return to service. His solution: Let's just grow some metal back on them & they'll be just fine! Once again, thanks for allowing us along on this wonderful journey.

Thanks for the great shows. Now I look at great length and detail every time I see a buggy or wagon.

Thanks once more🤠....Young man 😃👍

I love how you work this wood and metal into parts for your wagon!

Outstanding, can't believe your work! Thanks for sharing your time amazing talent!

I'm watching your videos wondering if , at my time of life , I could learn to craft something like old hay wains or ricks . Impressive . Great video 👍🇬🇧

just as amazing the second time thanks

Another great video Mr Dave!

I really enjoy your work, thanks for sharing!

Superb work! Very well done video. Thanks!

Watching you drill bind-holes is awe inspiring... ^~^ My inner Bugs-Bunny monolog, if I tried would be akin to, "I knew I should have taken that left at Albuquerque". 0~o

Once this wagon base is together, is it possible (for us non-horse people) to go through and explain the design and why it is what it is? I look at it and think that there are bits of wood and metal all over, and they must have a reason for being there but why they are shaped and positioned the way they are...

Another fantastic video.

My grandpa was a blacksmith but died when I was 2. I'd always heard my great grandpa was marshal of Dodge City, Kansas and had had an encounter with Wyatt Erp. What I didn't know was he had also been a blacksmith and partnered with one of the town founders named Wright. I've been a trucker 40 yrs and recently had to retire due to health. About 5 yrs ago, I was belly dumping on a wind farm project just south of Dodge, when a big ice storm blew in and shut us down nearly 3 weeks. I finally took some time and went to the historical society. Turns out, I learned more about him in 10 minutes than I ever could have otherwise learned. Sure enough, the mayor had indeed asked him to be sheriff. But the city council later passed a law that one could not have a city job and another vocation as well. It didn't take long for the nice lady to find a photo of Front Street, looking east. Right in a middle of the block, painted on the side of a building was the name WRIGHT. My great grandpa was Peter Walter Beamer, P.W. as it appeared in all the papers of the 1870's and '80's. In the 1970's, that block was torn down in order to widen the state highway. The locals told me it was all derelict anyway, but still would have loved to have seen it. My great grandmother Julia had a boarding house another block or so to the north. It's still there, not far from Applebees! Lol! My dad had a wooden trunk, especially fitted for old hand tools. I have no idea where that ended up. Lost to history now. But since my learning about my family history better, I've decided this explains my interest in the beautiful simplicity of wood and steel. Being a trucker all these years was just a more modern iteration of the family trade in motion, I suppose. By the way, I love those Borax wagons. Where are you based? P.W. plied his trade West across northern Arizona settling in San Diego eventually (but he worked as far south as Acapulco Mexico). Civil War wounds and old age eventually caught up with him too. 1842-1924. I love the craftsmanship brother! Just don't see enough of this anymore. Thanks for keeping it alive!!

wow, watchin the chain link and eye bolt restoration.

One thing I liked about my old Ryobi drill was that it had a bubble level on the back to help with keeping a bit straight while vertical drilling...sadly my newer one doesn't have it.

I am enjoying your program In 1948 my Amish grand father was killed in such a wagon. A truck driver fell asleep and did not know he had run over them. killed him and the team . Until he got out of the truck off the side of the road. Mom said he did a lot of such work. As well as shoeing horses . Only he would not have used any power tools, and he did a lot of black smiting. . My sister has a measuring tool for making iron rims that was his. She also has a 20 lb horse hitching weight that was his. Mom often called the craft as being a wood butcherer . Thanks.

Order of operations is obviously pretty important to what you do. I can only imagine how many, “Oh shoot, I should have done that first” moments there were while you were getting an assembly like this down.

Every video I watch,I say you're pretty damn good !

You are the one and only, well done to you.

Thanks for sharing 👍

That is so intricate!

The craftsmen from long ago certainly can be discounted when it came to ability. I'm impressed with the construction and workings of these wagons and buggies.

Appreciate your work.

I laughed at the question marks when you where trying to install those "dog leg" bolts at 8:43. The old wood axle had a nice wear mark of where the bolt offsets should be placed. Your metal welding technique to reuse the original brake metal pieces by filling wallowed holes, building up worn bolt shafts and clapped chain links was great. I assumed you would fabricate new replacements.

Iron clad wood...made to last and made to deal with the load and terrain. Amazing most of these just sat outdoors most of their life. You'd think there would be a fairly empty structure or barn or even a lean-to they could have sat just as well. I would have loved to been right there with those blacksmith buggy builders listening to how they decided to build them this way vs. that way and fit the irons as they did for what reasons etc.

I've been watching for years now, and every time I see something like this I still always say, Wow, that was fantastic ! How does he do it ??? Thanks Dave, for a great watch. Cliff

Outstanding work sir!

Nice work! The amount of engineering that went into these wagons is pretty impressive!