Repairing A Carriage Wheel Without Dismantling It

Wooden wheels are complicated to repair because the steel rim needs to be put on hot (it shrinks as it cools and tightens up all the joints). If the wheel has a rubber tyre as well, then the job becomes even more difficult because of the way those are fitted (the wire that runs through the tyre has to be hot-soldered together without melting the rubber). SO, if it is possible to make a repair to a spoke or a felloe without dismantling the wheel, then it has to be worth a try. This is how I did it, because