Traditional Wheel(barrow) with Peter Ross & Elia Bizzarri

Learn to make a traditional wheelbarrow! First Elia will help you mortise the wheel’s hub, shave its spokes and fit its fellies. Then Peter will make a custom-fitted metal tire. We’ll heat the tire in a fire, tap it onto the wheel, then dunk it in a vat of water to shrink it, locking the wheel in its iron grip.  Once the wheel is done, we’ll begin mortise-and-tenoning the barrow’s wooden frame. You’ll have the opportunity to forge brackets and braces for your wheelbarrow, learning basic blacksmithing techniques from one of the best smiths in the country (extra parts will also be available for sale).  Students will go home with a finished wheel and a partially-completed barrow, plus all the parts and knowledge needed to finish it. 

Lunch and all materials are included.  Class size is limited to 8 students and takes place at Elia’s shop in Hillsborough, NC.

A $200 deposit is required to register. If written cancellation is received up to two months before the class start date, a 50% refund will be provided. Within two months no refund is offered.

TRADITIONAL WHEELBARROW, September 9th-14th, 2024 – $1200

If the class you want is full, don’t despair! Cancellations might happen, so email me to be added to the waitlist.


About Peter Ross:  Peter is a nationally recognized artisan blacksmith. After 23 years as master of the blacksmith shop at Colonial Williamsburg, he moved to rural North Carolina and now operates his own shop. Peter specializes in museum-quality reproductions of hardware and furnishings for historic houses, working mainly with the hand-tool methods used in pre-industrial England and America.

Chairmaking class info can be found on my teaching page.

"I have been making Windsor chairs for 7 years and sell at craft shows. I came hoping to learn a few new techniques and left with a completely new method of chair making that will greatly improve the quality of my chairs."
– Doug McAvoy


For class deposits I accept personal checks, as well as credit card payments through the shopping cart below — no PayPal account required.

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