What was once a vital mode of transportation is now a conversation piece in some living rooms.
Retired autobody mechanic Wayne Iversen has been transforming the hubs of century old buggy and wagon wheels into art fitted with 35-watt bulbs to create a rustic country accent with ambient lighting.
The inspiration for the idea came to Iversen more than five years ago.
“I had a hub in the house and I just stared at it and was like, what can I do with that,” said Iversen. “This is what I’ve come up with.”
When Iversen acquires a wagon or buggy wheel, he typically cuts off any rotten pieces, welds metal bands on if needed and installs the lighting.
“I leave them as natural as possible,” he said. “It’s just working with wood and envisioning what it’s going to look like. After 25 years of doing autobody you’ve got to get creative. Once a person retires you have to putter and do something.”
His creations have gained attention at community markets.
“Some people are saying, ‘That’s pretty ingenious, where did you come up with that?” he said. “A lot of people are just stunned by it because they haven’t seen it before.”
Iversen said he spruces up the hubs into decorative art as a hobby.
“I just do it intermittently,” he said. “It’s not a full-time gig, just when the mood strikes me.”
Iversen’s home has a few of his creations laying around, including the first one he made.
Iversen said it never got to the point where they were in high demand. And he’s okay with that.
“I sold a couple pieces, but things never took off,” he said. “If it did take off I was wondering how I would keep up with demand just trying to find this stuff.”
When Iversen does find an old wagon or buggy wheel, he uses whatever parts are salvageable.
“Sometimes you get them where one side is just rotted because it’s laying on the ground,” he said. “People say, ‘I don’t care of it’s rotting, it looks cool.’”
Iversen typically gets his wheel hubs from local farms and auctions.
“A lot of it is people are just tired of looking at it or they inherit it and it’s not their cup of tea,” he said.
This has helped Iversen get the odd wheel hub for free.
“When I was physically looking for them, it wasn’t hard at all,” he said. “Usually they’re just out in the yard rotting.”
Iversen said he paid $75 for a quarter hub in one instance and another time he bought a trailer load of about 10 wheels at a farm auction for $300.
This isn’t the first time Iversen took his skills outside of the auto body shop.
When he was working in auto body, Iversen used a plasma cutter to create metal silhouettes of horses, boots and even a cowboy having coffee with a horse behind him.
Some of his pieces are still on display at Boot Hill Gallery.
“I did a few while I was in the bodyshop,” he said. “I had access to all this equipment.”
