Cattle and horses fill the corrals outside, but the barn is reserved for wagon wheel parts.
Wheelwright and machinist Randy Wolfe stores hundreds of bits and pieces here, a hobby that could one day become a full-time occupation on his acreage outside Saskatoon.
“If I do a quality product, stand behind it and if you take care of it, I think I’ll keep growing,” said Wolfe.
The entire Wolfe family is keen on horses and wagon riding. Randy and his son Kent, 23, have raced pony wagons while daughter Kourtney, 13, regularly rides and races some of the 22 horses they keep.
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Randy’s wife Josephine, whose father raced pony chuckwagons, can often be found in the on-farm machinist’s shop, helping Randy shrink wheel rims.
The hobby started with him fixing and fashioning replacement parts for his race wagon and led this past year to Randy buying the business of longtime wheelwright Roy Musgrove.
Wolfe credited Musgrove with showing him the ropes and supporting his work.
“I probably wouldn’t have started if I didn’t see Roy.”
Wolfe said drivers are generally looking for wagons that are safe and that will stand up to a little punishment.
Luke Tournier of Duck Lake, Sask., won the Thoroughbred chuckwagon event at the Calgary Stampede in 2005 driving one of Wolfe’s big wagons.
He bought the first full-sized wagon Wolfe built and sold.
Tournier said Wolfe is “nice to deal with. You get good service and can call him any time.”
Tournier said the wagons pull easily, require little maintenance and have interchangeable wheels. The old style wagons he used during his 18 years in the sport required a lot of grease.
Wolfe said most wagons are made much the same as they were 100 years ago. He uses rubber or steel on the exterior of the wheels and purchases spokes from an Amish colony in Ontario.
“There’s almost nothing you can improve on the outside function of the wheel,” Wolfe said.
He plans to create a website for Wolfe Wagons one day and do newspaper advertising, but currently has more demand than he can handle on a part-time basis.
“All my work is presold.”
There is little competition in the business, with only one other builder in Saskatchewan and two in Alberta.
With retirement from a machine sales job looming, Wolfe looks to expand his hobby to include the sale of complete wagons and sleighs or perhaps six-horse hitch wagons.
“I want to see where I can go. The better I can make them so they last longer, are maintenance free, so I have less work to do on them later on,” said Wolfe, citing his preference to build rather than
repair.
Already he devotes three hours each evening and full work days on the weekends to his craft. He is training someone to help him.
Wagons cost about $7,000 for the running gear and up to $20,000 for a complete wagon, depending on the finish.
The pony wagons last up to 20 years, while the larger ones have an even longer lifespan.
Wolfe draws his greatest rewards from watching his wagons in races and from the praise for a job well done.
An avid outdoorsman, he hopes to one day take one of his wagons on a trek.
