[Artemisia] February's Fiber Workshop

[Michael the Loud]

> I agree with Gefjon's post (on a separate post) --
> spinning wheels really need to be balanced well to
> work well (otherwise it's just a lot of, well,
> work and not much fun).  

I'm used to tweaking with my crossbows.  

It's not that hard to make a good wheel if you have a
decent lathe.  It gets a bit more difficult if you are
using a spring pole lathe because you need to cut work
with green wood.  You can used kilne dried wood but
it's more difficult.  With a decent powered lathe you
can also do lamainated pieces and it's easier to
duplicate things like spokes and legs.

> Not only does it look good, but it is well balanced
> and spins easily.  You might talk to him about how
> he went about making her spinning wheel.

Thanks!  I'll remember that.

I know a few people that have made spinning wheels
before and I'm also in process of making a weasal. 
Got a recent E-mail from Roy Underhill from "The
Woodwright Shop" and he gave me address of a gentleman
back east who is an expert on the subject.  It is
highly likely that in filming of a show this year one
of the episodes will be a weasal.  

Because of my connections I have a few muesum people
who have offered to make a closer examination of their
looms, wheels and the like and would let me take
photographs of their works.  I'm traveling down this
weekend to take pictures of some this weekend and if
the pictures turn out, I'll be glad to share them with
you.

> By the same token, even drop spindles need to be
> balanced.  If they aren't they don't spin as long
> and are also more work to get yarn from.

There are several good plans for Spring Pole Lathes
and if you work with green wood making things like
drop spindles aren't that difficult.  The German
design of a Spring Pole Lathe published by Roy
Underhill can be made in a few hours for around $50. 
I've seen some 2x4 & 2x6 construction that can be done
for around $30.  Trick is you need green wood as kiln
dried wood is difficult to cut.

Again, Thanks for the info!

Michael



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