Restore 1904 BobSled

[CanoeTomah]

This metal bobsled came from my father. Pat. 1904 by the Linn Mfg Co. in Michigan. The rust has been scraped off, found a place to buy the soft metal rivets, repeened on the bottom metal runners, painted the metal, and currently in the process of replacing the wood with oak. My knowledge on these things is limited mainly to what I have seen on this site.

Note the back bob has a wooden cross piece that was used just for the boys to try one out.
This was on the front bob when I tore them a part.
The back bob was just chained to the front bob. Was/ is this common?
I have seen some pics that show the back bob connected by a metal lever/pole.

The back bunk had a wooden crosspiece that was attached by 4 eyebolts.
Is this set up ok or is there a better way to attach. I think they are supposed to have some allowance for movement.
The front bob had one large metal bolt that whent to the top wooden cross piece that allowed it to turn.
Both the front and back bob’s wooden cross pieces had two holes in them.
This is where you would attach the main support beams of your wagon box(i think).

Would these bobs be for a passenger, farm,sled or some kind of logging sled.
They look a lot heavier duty than any sleigh I have seen.

I was hopping to be able to put some kind of a box on for 2 in the front and for some fire wood in the back.
Appreciate any help on the next phase of building. The sled used in the Logging with OZ video is what I would hope for.

Should I use the 2 holes on the top of each front bob runner to attach the wooden crosspiece to hook to the shafts or pole too? The prior set up did not.

Thanks!

[CanoeTomah]

Slow Progress on the Bob’s.
We got the old forge out and fixed the eyes for the back bob’s bunk.
My daughter was home form college and she had a chance to work with the forge.
A couple of pics below.

[Ed Thayer]

That wooden cross peice on the front of the bob is for a set of single shafts to attach, it is offset so the driver could see where he was going behind the horse.

Nice looking set up. Do you have the 5th wheel pin and slides for it?

Ed

[Mark Cowdrey]

Interesting reason for the offset Ed and it makes sense. I had heard it was so that the single horse could walk in the track of a horse (and runner) from a team set-up that had been down the road.
Mark

[carl ny]

Actually the main reason for the off set is so that a single horse will track in the same track as a team.Keeps them on the packed trail in the snow so they don’t have to pack a new trail in the center.My mother told me that her first horse was a “city horse”. He didn’t know enough to stay up on the packet trail,he went into the center and fell and broke the fill’s on her sleigh the first time she took him home. She lived on Tug Hill in N.Y. and they didn’t plow the roads in those days. That was about 1920 or so. HTH

carl ny

PS; I guess Mark beat me to the punch,I type with two fingers…LOL….. I never saw his post the first time around.

[Ed Thayer]

I guess it serves two purposes, I heard my reasoning from an old NH logger as described in a film he had seen back in the day.

Ed

[CanoeTomah]

We attached the forged eyes to the back bob during the week.
I’ll post some pictures this weekend.
Currently, boys and I are working on the front bob.
The front bob did not have a 5th wheel pin and slides the question makes me wonder if it did.
This makes the front bob turn better? Is this something I could fab up.
I was just going to bolt the front cross piece on and just let the front bob turn on the wood.
Not having ever used one or seen one used I could be making some poor assumptions.
If anyone could direct me to a link for pictures of the slides & 5th wheel set up it would be appreciated?
Could anyone advise on the size of the beams used under wagon box 4 x 4 pressure treated or 2 by 3 hardwood.
Thanks for any help you can provide. We are hoping to be operational before ice out.

[CanoeTomah]

Attached pictures below show the forged eyes for the back bob.
Back bob is pretty much complete.
Also pics of the drilling front cross beam.

[CanoeTomah]

We are closer to finishing the bobsled. Thank you to Highway for the help.
Here we are trying out chaining the bobs together to see how much slack needed to turn.
Currently working on a set of shafts and need to fab something together to hook to the front bob.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUIV3A9FwsU[/video]

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