View the highlights & photographs from our current issue.

Current Issue: #45 - July 2004

In this issue we travel to eastern Canada to compare spinning wheels by several 19th-century wheel makers and to Japan to study silk-reeling devices. A newly discovered example of an odd style of wheel brings about a reassessment of the style.

A Rare Form of Accelerated Flax Wheel
by Michael Taylor

Early in his wheel-collecting career, Michael Taylor of Marietta, OH, came across a style of double-wheel, double-treadle vertical wheel that had some odd, asymmetrical features. At the time he and Dave Pennington thought it was the result of poor workmanship on the part of the wheel maker. However, when Michael recently acquired another example of this style, he studied it more closely and found that there were definite advantages to some of the odd design features.

Double-wheel, double-treadle vertical wheel
Collection of Michael Taylor

Spinning Wheels of Nova Scotia
by Alvin Ramer

Alvin Ramer of Colborne, ONT, has signed examples of spinning wheels by four different makers who were from the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia. He recounts how he acquired these wheels and what is known about the individual wheel makers.

#1 - MacDonald wheel
Collection Alvin and Barbara-Anne Ramer

#2 - McIntosh wheel
Collection Alvin and Barbara-Anne Ramer

#3 - Young wheel
Collection Alvin and Barbara-Anne Ramer

#4 - McKenzie wheel
Collection Alvin and Barbara-Anne Ramer

Silk-Reeling Equipment From Japan
by Florence Feldman-Wood

Silk and silk processing have been a special interest of mine since I began spinning and weaving. So I was fascinated by Richard Ashfordís Japanese silk reeler when I visited the Ashford factory in Ashburton, New Zealand, in 2003. I realized that it was similar to a silk reeler that Bonnie Weidert of Henrietta, NY, had asked me about. When I compared the pictures of these traditional hand-reeling de- vices, I discovered that they were almost identical in form and function.

Japanese silk reeler #1
Collection Richard Ashford

Japanese silk reeler #2
Collection Richard Ashford

Feedback

Several readers sent stories and information in response to articles in Issue #44. Peter Teal of Taunton, England, tells about a spinning machine that ran counterclockwise that he developed while working with local spinners in India. Marni Harang, an American living in the Netherlands, provides information about "koedek." Marsha Reeder of Fairfax, VA, describes more examples of great wheels with double spindle posts that she found in western Virginia and North Carolina. Patricia Jenkins of Lee, NH, comments on our discussion of small spindle wheels.

Inquiry: A Wheel Marked ICS
by Grace Hatton

Grace Hatton of Hawley, PA, sent in an inquiry about a wheel marked ICS that she has been researching.

Wheel marked ICS
Collection Grace and Fred Hatton