Thoughts on shim/bushing/adapter for antique spinning wheel?

Creative Arts Fiber Arts
#1

So, throwing this out to the Hive Mind for ideas…

A student recently purchased this antique spinning wheel (1800s Swiss lateral treadle wheel) and we looked it over at the monthly Denton spinning group this afternoon and there’s one thing it particularly needs to get her spinning again…

The area near the footman where one side of the axle of the wheel sits, the miles of spinning on her has badly worn a groove in the wood. Deep enough that it’s throwing the wheel spinning off true. It needs lifting, shimming, etc.

The quick fix is layers of leather to lift it, but better fix is add back in some wood. Best fix is some kind of metal bushing or rest. And keep in mind, it’s an antique, so don’t want to greatly alter surrounding area other than minorly for fit.

Here’s a pic (first below) of the worn area with the axle lifted to near proper position to give idea of what’s needed. Any ideas or suggestions?

We’d welcome help since we barely know what we’re doing once it gets to wood/metal tweaks :slight_smile:

This wheel can be at the space this coming Tuesday evening (fiberarts night) if someone needs a closer look. But say so since it doesn’t need to be hauled around unnecessarily.

Also
It also needs the connections on the base stabilized (dry/loose wood, bad shimmy). The suggestion is wood glue, but any thoughts here?

The worn area

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Here’s more pics if you’re curious. Note that another lower priority but would like to do fix is to repair those separations on the main wheel itself. Done in a way that takes into consideration the antique nature of it. Welcome thoughts and suggestions on that.

More pics:imageimageimageimageimageimageimage

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#2

Thinking about the fix.

There are two problems that I see:

  1. The slot has worn down/gotten larger and
  2. The axle is wearing down getting thinner. Just filling the gap up will fix the problem for a bit, but unless the axle is addressed at the same time, at some point it will just wear down and become too thin and break.

The fix will depend on how close to “original” you want to stay. A wood insert could be made with a brass 180 degree open bearing that the axle rests on, now what to do on the axle. It’s now worn so that it is dog-bone shaped, so slipping on a piece of brass there would only be possible if it is larger than the end where it attaches to the wheel hub. Can’t tell if the axle is part of hub or separate piece. If separate, if it can be removed then the brass bushing could be slipped over and and the gap between it and the axle filled so it is concentric. This would give good wear, but not look original.

The wood working folks may know how to make a putty that will match the color and then build the parts back up.

Beautiful functional antique. How old is it, do they know?

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#3

I wouldn’t recomend putty or metal. Patch in a hard maple dutchman for both the slot and the axle. The wood versions will last another 150 years.

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#4

I agree. I was trying to keep as much original wood as possible, but that axle is just to worn out. Your approach is simpler.

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#5

My approach also replicates how such devices would have been repaired historically. I suspect if done well it would actually increase the value, because in ten years it would be difficult to tell when in history the repair was made.

It would be important to use hide glue, not the modern chemical stuff, though.

These were tools and you can find dutchman repairs in the ones in the museum that are almost as old as the original.

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#6

By the way, I would estimate it to be mid to late 19th century.

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#7

Re age

When looking at comparable ones with similar carvings, I was finding them around 1840s. I’m waiting to hear from her what auction house said. But they were already kinda wrong on country of origin (said Scandinavian, and orientation/construction all wrong for that, and consensus in antique wheel groups is this is Swiss/French design). The lateral treadle setup (the orifice and treadle at right angles to each other) is extremely distinctive and not common in most wheels. That framed in shape would throw off a casual person (auction house research) to compare, but the orifice/treadle orientation is very very distinctive.

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#8

Re type of fix and stay true to original or not

Yeah, that’s the question right now. I think decisions will lean towards getting it useable to spin while preserving as much as possible versus true restoration. Somewhere in middle ground.

I have my thoughts if it were my wheel, but it’s not. I suspect we have same outlook though. So I’m helping her gather info to make informed decisions.

There is a person that does excellent wheel restoration but is a couple of states away, then the money factor. They’re generous with knowledge and we’ll see if they have any suggestions, but I suspect any work is hopefully something we can do at dms. Just trying to figure direction and resources to give this neat wheel another chance and a good home.

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#9

I think Walter’s fix would be the better approach to retain authenticity.

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#10

I’ll not be any help with repairs, but my God that is a beautiful old spinning wheel. Thank you for sharing the pictures. They bring back memories of the antique wheel my mom had when I was a child.

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#11

Lol. You should have seen that wheel at the spinner’s meeting Sunday. I thought she was going to have to clean drool off it. It’s truly a beautiful wheel. I don’t know if it is clear from pic, but it has captured rings on the spokes too. I saw another similar with this level of carving in my research with a large captured ring on the axle wood area. Too cool.

She’s obviously had miles spun on her, and well loved. If I were a past owner, it would make me happier to see her in use again than consigned to a decoration. So I’m glad her new person is interested in getting her going again.

Neat about your moms wheel :slight_smile:

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#12

So, an update:

Heard back from the expert restoration folks on their suggestions, and the thought process of using things to fix like they would have back then was on target. I’m sure a full proper restoration is another matter, but for the current goal of useability:

Re the worn groove–raise with leather

Re the wobbly base–try winding with waxed cord around tenon and then it may not need gluing

Re pretty tight wood screw (didn’t mention above, one of the two vertical drive-band tension screws at the back doesn’t want to turn much if at all)–try penetrating oil, and barring that, a polycord drive band since its an Irish tension not double-drive. (My personal wheel, scotch tension, has a stretchy modern poly band versus a traditional linen/hemp cord.) The point of a poly band is that it could be put on and joined slightly stretched if the tension on the wheel itself can’t be adjusted.

QUESTION re penetrating oil for wood
Is this anything we have hanging out here at dms? If so, where? Any do/don’t? If not here, what to buy?

For anyone interested, she’s bringing the wheel to Fiberarts tonight, 7-9pm if you wanna swing by and look at it. It likely won’t be here again unless needed since this isn’t gonna be a travel wheel (a lot of spinners have a wheel they drag to social stuff, but heavy or delicate ones in the wheel flock stay home)

We’ll be spending some quality time playing with the leather and waxed cord. Handy that we have a cabinet full right there. DMS awesomeness shines again. :slight_smile:

@wandrson
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#13

Darn I wish I hadn t skipped tonight!

#14

So our experiments were a success.

The waxed linen on the tenons was ok enough it stabilized markedly better. But even better, she’s gonna try buying some of those thin flat toothpicks and shim the outside area in the tenons (room enough a fingernail can fit) then break/cut off, and use a wood stain marker to blend it. Should be great.

And the leather worked great. This is the version 2.0 and lifted just right. She’ll stain it to blend with the wood and it’ll barely show.

Thanks again for everyone’s input and help!

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#15

Another approach would be to make some wood peelings (very thin curls of wood) using a bench plane (or perhaps a chisel - plane would work better), then glue into the mortise around the tenon using hide glue. The very thin wood curl would wrap around the tenon and become nearly invisible once the glue was added. Hide glue is a pain to work with, but is a) period accurate and b) reversible - no permanent change to the piece.

FWIW, hide glue could also be used to fix the leather pads in place.

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#16

Great idea. I’ll mention to her.

Where to get hide glue, brand etc?

I’ve been thinking about getting some myself because I’ve been wanting to get back into playing with granulation (jewelry). I can just let her use mine.

#17

https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-International-5013-Titebond-8-Ounce/dp/B0002YXE7K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503093347&sr=8-1&keywords=hide+glue

Shelf life of about six months. Reversible with heat and a little water.

If you want some hide glue granules, I can leave a few ounces in a bag in my personal storage box. It can be purchased by the pound from Woodcraft or Highland Hardware.

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#18

Granules…so those could be reconstituted in miniscule amounts at a time how I’m actually needing versus a bottle that has limited life?

If so, yes, I’d love to get a bit from you. She only needs tiny amount and then granulation formula is equally tiny amounts

#19

For her, I recommend the bottle. You need a double boiler for the glue. It takes 15-20 minutes to properly dissolve. There is a ‘knack’ that needs to be developed.

I will leave a few ounces in my box tonight.

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#20

BTW, this little glue pot is perfect for small amounts

http://www.leevalley.com/us/garden/page.aspx?p=74043&cat=1,110,42965&ap=1

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