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
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
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: