A Wheel Mystery

Update 2-22-20-This little wheel sold!

I promised myself I would not become a collector of wheels.  This Spring/Summer I have come home with two "antique-maybe" wheels.  

This is the first wheel:  Smaller at about 13" diameter, with decorations and a distaff for flax.

My parents took pictures of it in a Texan antique store, sent them with their phones, and I said I would buy it.  I learned a lesson in buying without seeing in person, and though I didn't spend a lot on it, I did spend more than I would have offered if I had inspected it in the shop.

Though it does appear antique-ish (defining antique as 100+ years old), there are some strange things about it.  It does spin, but I think I can make it better.  For all the fancy turnings, some of the holes aren't drilled true--one of the maidens is slightly angled down/ the mother-of-all isn't square/ the base or table sits a little wonky to the legs.

Whoever or however it was made, I speculate it could be a student project, mass-production piece, or broken and put back together with added embellishments.

Here is the underside of the table where the uprights are set into the table with . . . I'm not sure what you call this?  It's a bowtie or butterfly shape with a shim/spline/ piece of wood pounded into it to splay the end of the round piece out so that it stays in the hole.  You can also see the legs were glued in at one point in time.

On the topic of glue, here is the edge of the table with . . . "doo-dads"? "medallions" glued on.  I point out the glue for a reason.  Although I'm only an amateur woodworker, I think that any true craftsman worth his salt would not have done such a shoddy job on the glue and then put a finish on over top of it!

This photo shows the footman slipping onto a tapered axle crank/pin with a turned "bead" to hold the footman on the axle crank/pin.
























And here is the flyer with bobbin and whorl.  The flyer is also tapered and the whorl fits tightly, but I wonder if there would be issues later with it loosening.

I believe the flyer and axle crank are cast metal.  There is a texture to it like hammering, and no wear from use as far as I can tell--though someone waxed the wooden screw threads where the mother-of-all is raised or lowered for tension.








Is it legitimate?  Well, it IS a spinning wheel and it does spin, sort of.  Some of the turnings vary slightly in size instead of matching exactly, which makes the wheel look hand-made; but, the finish job is poor and sloppy.  Kind of like those harps by mid-east manufacturing you see all over e-bay . . . they look like real harps . . . but you get what you pay for . . . or over-pay for.



But THIS wheel . . . 

This wheel "found me" on e-bay.  I know it's a bizarre thing to say, but I now get what other people mean when they say similar things.  Something about it caught me.  It spins like a dream.  The craftsmanship and engineering are excellent.  And it is a mystery . . .

*Split table (the wheel sits down in the table)
*22" wheel
*Still has the top of its distaff
*double drive
*Irish tension or "drag"
*Metal bearings
*remnants of gold paint under new finishes all over the wheel


Parts of it have been painted black, and not too carefully.  It smells like "Old Gold" dusting spray.

The bobbin and whorl fit tightly against each other.  I had to borrow a bobbin from another wheel because I wasn't sure if it was supposed to work in double drive or if the bobbin wasn't original, or perhaps swollen with humidity?

The flyer is very nice, but the hooks look like someone put a varnish or shellac over them, which caused my fiber to catch occasionally.  

The wheel axle even has a hole in the bearing cap to put drops of oil through.  

It still has both axle caps.

No makers' marks.  It's a mystery!

Preserving the Past - A Bernat Table Loom

Here is a finished project:  A Bernat Table Loom. 2-22-20  It could be a "Missouri" loom, but looks more like the Bernat to me--seems like the 1920s/30s there were several builders using this design.  (A picture of the refinished loom is at the end of the post)

The loom is actually in pretty good condition, for being 100 years old, and only needed to have the wood preserved with some smoothing and finishing to make it ready to weave again.

Apologies for the extra "stuff" in the background, but the kids didn't notice me in this spot.  This particular loom seems to be an early version of the Bernat table loom, which would place the age c.1920s.  It would have had levers on the side for raising the shafts, and the bottom braces paralleling the cloth beams would have been immediately beneath the beams where on this loom they have been moved to accommodate a floor treadle frame.  The pulleys on this loom are made of stainless steel, where later models seem to have pot-metal pulleys.

Facing the loom front, this would be the right hand side where the levers would have attached.  You can see the screw holes and just make out "wear" marks on the top and bottom, where some part of the mechanism would have touched.









On that same side of the loom, are these pulleys.  Later models had the pulleys inside a sort of frame instead of directly screwed to the side of the loom frame.

 Here is the left front side which shows several things:  The shape of the pawl changed in the later model.  The castle pivots to fold the loom a little smaller, but is held upright with a hook and eye screw.  And there are eyelet screws to guide a cord from the back pawl to the front of the loom to make releasing the back beam easier.









The beater doesn't look like the one depicted in a pamphlet for the loom.  This one is a tapered pin, where the beater pictured in the pamphlet uses screws to pinch the top on.  I do believe this beater is original to this loom as it fits the loom perfectly, and made from the same wood, oak.







An advertisement from a weaving magazine from the 1930s shows this loom with the different beater.  Later models of this loom also incorporated a shuttle rest? on the right hand side, where this loom has a straight side.

 After pictures came the disassembly and part labeling.

Here is the difference a little sanding can make.  I didn't sand to take off all the blemishes of 100 years, but my general process was: sanding between all coats, two coats of sanding sealer, Aquacoat grain filler, two coats topcoat water-based shellac.

I wanted to preserve the staining from the hardware, but did sand off some markings from previous owner(s).  Mostly, as I intend to use this loom, I wanted to prevent snagging my projects.






In the end, the loom looks much the same, just cleaner.  I am currently replacing the cording for tie ups.  The treadle base is a little more of a puzzle.  The lams and treadles look original to the loom (made of oak), but the treadle frame (made of pine?) looks like a replacement by a skilled woodworker, made custom for this loom.  The treadles and lams received the same refinish process as the loom, but I gave the frame a simple rub-down with "Howard" orange oil & beeswax.

There are pencil marks everywhere, even on the lams, which made me wonder if the base could possibly be a prototype?

These wooden spacers look like replacements.  You can see the bleaching showing a round shaped spacer.

The re-Finished Loom

 The wood now feels buttery smooth, and has a nice satin shine.  The hardware cleaned up beautifully with some steel wool polishing and works smoothly!

I have ordered a new reed for the loom, and need another apron rod (old warp hanging in the picture  from last project I did on a borrowed loom).

Funny story on that note: I found a "loom" in pieces at an antique store and traded an old sewing machine for it so I could rob its reed . . . turns out the loom (minus harnesses) is a Bergman!















Of course, as I often do in my travels, I met a wonderful couple--the gal who sold me the loom and her husband.  This . . . THIS is the best part of a project like this.  Because I had to travel quite a distance to pick up the loom, this couple graciously opened their home to me, spent their evening visiting with me, and even took me out to dinner!

I want to extend my deep gratitude to them! 




A little corny, but look what I found on the underside of one of the nuts . . .
Diamonds!  A girl's best friend!

Dollhouse Update

Working steadily, I have finished the construction portion of my Duracraft FH 505 dollhouse.  It is now ready for wiring and then decorating.

 I finished the shingling (except a tiny bit on the outcrop?).  Sanded and painted all the trim pieces--I just need a couple more 1/4 x 1/8 pieces to finish the trim on the porch (I am planning faux-lattice on the bottom and I don't know if I'll do the railings on the sides).  I had to fix the posts and trim on the porch as one piece of decoration was flipped and the other jutting beyond the end of the porch.  I made a replacement decoration for one of the dormers.  The faux stonework is for aesthetics only and not intended to look supportive or "correct".

                      

The chimney is missing its "drip plates", so I will need to make replacements.  The bottom "stones" on the chimney look yellow because I began applying them with wood glue, but when I saw they yellowed, I switched to ModPodge.  The "stones" are torn up cup holders/egg cartons.   The gable trim is a bit long so I may trim those pieces.  I don't think I'll attach the gutters and downspouts, as I don't feel they are realistic enough to add anything to the appearance of the house.

 

The inside is ready for wiring and decoration.  I decided not to attach the back decoration pieces.  I felt like they were in the way, and would need alteration to fit the new room partitions--plus, I feel the plain, straight lines fit better with a "farmhouse".  I used two pieces of the trim intended for the windows and cut off part of it to fit in the grooves on the sides.   

I left the windows panes out of the frames to make it easier to wallpaper/paint.  I plan to make my own fireplaces maybe from polymer or more cup trays.  I need to find a poly-fill to begin filling gaps.  

I'm not quite sure what to do about wallpaper--I don't want paper permanently affixed to the walls in case anything goes wrong with wiring.  My idea is to use heavy watercolor paper and either paste paper to that or paint my own designs on it.  Then, you can see the 1/4x1/4 bracing pieces at the top of each wall which is an issue if I want to apply trim at the top of the walls.  I have a "plane" for making reeds for instruments which might be small enough I could use it to shave off the corners of the bracing--or I could find some skinny pieces to glue to the bracing to build-up and make it into "trim" instead.  . . . Or find a "fat" piece of trim and cut it out on the inside to fit over the bracing.  The windows need trim around the inside.

I could approach the floors the same way as the walls and glue my flooring to a heavy paper which could be removed.  I have plenty of veneer pieces to make "wooden" flooring, possibly a flagstone floor in the kitchen?

The next decision is tape or round wiring.  I had decided on tape wire, but if floors and wallpaper become finicky to make removable, then round wire with flooring/paper directly applied in a more permanent manner might make sense.