+JMJ+

I had to leave them at my brother's house temporarily, since they didn't fit in my car, lol. When I came up again the next day, I took a full evaluation of them. I did discover that in the move, some of the pieces of the two wheels had been accidently switched, so I fixed those. 

At the same time, I discovered that both wheels were missing parts, including flyers (which hold the fiber being spun) and footmen (the connection between the treadle and the wheel). Undaunted, I started to research how to fix them. Surely other spinsters had restored similar wheels to working condition. 

I got both wheels home safely and continued researching. I discovered then that while the footman would be a simple fix, the flyer was another matter entirely. It would seem that flyers of antique wheels were custom-made to the wheel itself and that wheels without flyers were doomed to being decorative pieces. Maybe this was naïve of me, but I found that to be a little ridiculous. 

At this time, I decided to focus on only one of the wheels because it would have been much harder to create leather bearings for the second pair of maidens. Not only did they not match, they didn't have the holes drilled into them (my guess is that they were replacements for decorative purposes). 

While poking around, I discovered one day that one of the parts I had was a quill spindle. Since it was an older form of collecting the thread than the flyer, I thought I could use it for one wheel and got excited. For an experiment, I tied a string to one of the footmen and tied a temporary drive band around the wheel and the quill whorl to see if it could work. I had to hold the spindle with my hand because of the lack of leather bearing on the other maiden, but it was exhilarating to see it turn! 

While I was attempting to figure out the quill/flyer conundrum, I started creating the new footmen. One of the wheels had a degraded leather footman, so I used it as a guide. I ordered a roll of leather strap from Amazon, cut the holes with an awl and knitting needles and tied them to both wheels. I had to jerry-rig them with string between the wheel itself, but they worked like champs on both wheels. I also bought some narrow strapping to help repair some of the wooden pieces and make a temporary bearing for the back maiden, and shimmed one of the wheel supports that had come loose in the repair process.  

After I finished the footmen, I turned back to the flyer/spindle problem. I discovered that the quill spindle was meant for a walking wheel, and not the Saxony style (which is what I have). The original bearing was also indeed meant for a flyer, and would not be able to hold the quill properly. So it was back to the drawing board with even more measurements being taken. 

This all happened in the space of about a month. For the rest of the summer, I was in a rut trying to find a flyer that could fit the wheel. I discovered that modern flyers for spinning wheels were simply too big, and many vintage ones were too degraded to safely use. When buying one didn't seem to be an option, I looked for resources for making one. I soon found that while there were some craftsman and plans available, I was in over my head. So I abandoned that idea and decided to keep looking online. 

Fast forward to late September. 

I found a listing for a vintage flyer on Etsy, estimated to be about 1910s. One cool thing was that while the seller was from Wales, the flyer was originally from Sweden. The measurements looked about right and the condition looked decent, so I took a chance and ordered it. Once it arrived, I did a fit test and it was just about right! 

On closer examination, the orifice and the hooks had a little more rust than I had anticipated. In order to safely use it, that had to come off. Using vinegar, WD-40, some steel wool, and a lot of elbow grease, the majority of the rust was able to come off. As of right now, it still needs a tad bit more work, but it will be ready soon! 

Meantime, I made a more permanent bearing for the back maiden, and found a string that I can use for a permanent drive band. All I need now is to buy some oil, finish the last bit of cleaning, and then I can...take it for a spin. Sorry, I couldn't help making that pun. 

All in all, I really enjoyed stretching my brain to figure out how to make this spinning wheel work again. In spite of the sometimes discouraging setbacks, I'm really blessed that this $5 find turned out to be fairly easy to get back into shape. I'm really excited to get to spin my wool on there - I've been carding like crazy over the summer so I have enough to play with! 

Have you ever restored something? What was that like, and was it successful? Tell me down in the comments below! 

God bless, 

Catherine