Sometimes the job is just to fix the wheelbarrow. Usually because you need to the wheelbarrow to do some other job.

Something I like about woodworking is that you end up learning to do all kinds of things. Stuff that might have seemed hard or impossible is now pretty easy. The broken wheelbarrow started out just needing a new wheel. That turned out tougher than you might expect. Of course, the same exact wheel isn't available anymore. And the new wheel has a different type of hub which means the spaces don't fit. So, I got the wheel home, saw how big of a spacer I actually needed - discovered that no such thing exists and got out the hack saw. A woodworking bench holds a metal part just fine for the occasional cut. In 10 minutes I had properly sized spacers and the wheel was back on.

Then came this ramped spacer that sits between the body of the wheelbarrow and frame.

Back to woodworking, at last! The old one had broken, warped and wasn't working too well anymore. I found some scrap red oak that looked about right, quickly milled it up and then copied the design of the old one. There was a surprising bit of complexity in this little job. The long taper was easily cut on the bandaw and is good practice for free handing a straight line. The notches have angled edges which a good table saw sled/miter gauge handle easily (for a tip, once the two sides are laid out, just line those up with the blade kerf in the sled , set the fence and you are good to go.). Finally, the two holes, which, like me, you may reailize later have to be perpendicular to the original straight edge - well, if you saved the offcut it's easy enough to set this back on top of and everything will go fine.

Woodworking includes a lot of problem solving. And that's what makes it really fun. Stuff that might have been hard at one time suddenly seems trivial. And when the earlier stuff seems so simple, it means you are really moving along.

So, I didn't get a new puzzle box out of this, but I can get some yard/farm work done!