Learn to make a traditional wheelbarrow! Elia will first help you mortise the wheel’s hub, shave its spokes, and fit its fellies. With the wheel under way, you’ll begin learning basic blacksmithing techniques as Peter helps you forge the brackets and braces for your wheelbarrow. Peter will make the tires for the wheels, then we’ll heat them in a fire, tap them onto the wheels, then dunk the wheels in a vat of water to shrink the tire and lock the wheel in its iron grip. Once the wheels are done, we’ll begin mortise-and-tenoning the barrow’s wooden frame. Students will go home with a finished wheel and a partially-completed barrow, plus all the parts and knowledge needed to finish it.
Class size is limited to 8 students and takes place at Elia’s shop in Hillsborough, NC. All tools and materials are provided. Lunches are too (soup, chili, Pad Thai, eggplant curry, build-your-own sandwiches, etc). No prior experience of any kind is needed. These classes are physically demanding, so expect to work long hours and laugh a lot.
A $200 non-refundable, non-transferable 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, October 5th-10th, 2026 – $1800 – Sold Out
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.
