At my school we have this thing called senior project where we have to research something, build a physical product, and present in front of a board of judges. I picked Unicycling as my topic because if I’m going to spend half a year on a project, I might as well do it on something I really enjoy. For researching I’m planning on doing: learing to ride, unicycling styles, and unicycle design as the three major prongs in my thesis statement. For my physical product I’m thinking of building a wooden unicycle.
I decided on building a wooden (probably just for show) unicycle because welding requies more resources (that I dont have) compared to the vast ammounts of woodworking tools my dad has. I can get something welded at my neighbour’s house but I am not too sure about his skill, but I know he has the tools if I really need something
My basic design I have in my head looks like a piece of wood that is split down the center leaving room for the tire.
For materials I was thinking of using really strong laminated plywood or something like that my dad was talking about. he was saying something like soaking and bending the wood to split it nicely.
The part where I need the most help is the design. I think what I'm saying will work and wont be too hard, but any ideas that doesnt involve too much welding would be great
should I move this over to Rec.sport.uni?
thank you for any suggestions/comments
Greg
edit: oh yeah you can contact me through AIM by "cornsyrup87" if you want to have a real indepth conversation
There is an older thread about wooden unicycles: Wooden Uni
Joe Stoltzfus made a wooden unicycle. He’s also a wood worker for his day job so a wooden unicycle was a natrual extension for him. His wooden muni was made with laminated wood and lots of resin and maybe some fiberglass.
I don’t know Joe Stoltzfus’ contact info. But Rolf Thompson will know. Rolf’s contact info is on the Moab Muni Fest web page. For info and ideas on building a wooden unicycle Joe Stoltzfus is the one to talk to.
I’ll attach a photo by John Foss showing Joe’s wooden muni at the 2000 Muni Weekend.
I was just about topost about how hard it would be to make it stable, square etc… Then there it is, a wooden uni. I wonder how it has faired over time. Seems kind of wide. Still cool, even as artwork for a wall. I wonder if it has any flex? Has anyone here ridden it?
Ok. Talking to one of my carpenter neighbors I have basicly decided on taking small (maybe 1/8th of an inch) strips of wood and steaming, laminating, and glueing them together almost like an old wooden tennis racket. I was thinking it would also look good to put a nice finish on it and maybe using different types of wood inside for a nice look on the sides.
I was also thinking of instead of going with a metal seatpost and a premade seat, it would be very nice looking to try to make the seat myself out of wood. It would take a lot more time but I think it would be worthwhile for the extra effort. I was also thinking of making the pedals too but I would have to really think about how and if it would work
I once requested that HandyAndy make a unicycle out of wood, but he wouldn’t do it. Wuss.
Then I was going to make it in my tech class last year, but I realized I didn’t know anything about wood. So instead I made a block of swiss cheese, drilling holes through it.
i was just thinking about that the other day. life has gotten busy here working on my car (new engine!) but i got laid off today so i will have a little extra time on my hands. maybe i’ll get around to it eventually. prpbably not tho.
Let’s not over-react to this guys. There are plenty of good cheap non-tree-based unicycles on the market now. Why chase your tails after some far-fetched idea like this? Just because they do it in Idaho doesn’t mean it’s a sensible idea…
I wonder if it has any flex? Has anyone here ridden it?
