A squared beam of seasoned oak shod at each end with iron sleeves and a retaining pin, or in better work an iron axle throughout. It is the component of a wagon most likely to fail and the hardest to bodge on a road, so a prudent carter carries a spare or at least the iron for one. Smiths in market towns keep them made up against the day someone limps in on three wheels.
Axle, wagon
Iron-shod wagon axle; the part that fails first and strands the load.