Saturday was the monthly meeting of the Tennessee Valley Handspinners Guild in Knoxville. (tnvalleyhandspinners.org) I had agreed to pick up a wheel to give it a service/clean/tune-up for a member. Kiwiweave does a routine clean/service for $30. This is a ‘Wee Peggy’ wheel made in 1980 by Rappard (of Dunedin, New Zealand – my home town). Rappard exported a huge number of these kitset wheels to the US in the 1970-1990 timeframe. It’s the wheel on the left and is directly related to my wheel the ‘Little Peggy’ (to the right) which was made in 1974 and is very similar but as it came fully assembled isn’t quite as common here in the US. During the meeting the guild decided to purchase an antique Saxony style wheel that could be used at future demonstrations especially if emphasizing the historical nature of spinning. It’s the wheel at the back. I volunteered to take it home and give it a tune-up and light cleaning. It’s fully functional so no real maintenance is needed.
The wheel was likely built in the early 1800s and while it doesn’t have any makers marks, the style of wheel construction, number of turned spokes, chipped table edges and maiden style suggest it could be of Shaker origin. The cleaning work will maintain the patina that has built up over the last 200 or so years and nothing needs replacement. It is interesting to note that at some stage the spokes have been reset about an inch away from their original place. It looks like one part of the wheel rim cracked, releasing the spoke, so rather than fixing the wheel rim the owner just moved all the other spokes to match the new. I’ll put photo’s of these details in another post.
As my wheel was one of the demonstration wheels at the Guild meeting – the program was an opportunity to try other styles of wheels. Everything from e-spinners, to bulk spinners, to antiques, double drives, and Scotch tension models – I gave it a good clean! That’s my wheel to the right above, and to the left is the ‘Wee Peggy’ that I have for cleaning/tune-up. It is missing a couple of minor parts so will have to get creative to make those.
As we have a few days of rain forecast I think I will have some suitable indoor work over the next few days. I’m due to deliver the ‘Wee Peggy’ on the 10th and the Saxony wheel at the next monthly meeting.