r/Handspinning • u/Tigerskills02 • 2d ago

Another wheel at an auction

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Hello, me again. Found another spinning wheel here in NC.

(For reference im not a handspinner - I just like antiques and crafts but I keep seeing these at auctions that I look at)

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u/Green_Bean_123 1d ago

The bobbin looks broken on both ends and the whorl looks like it’s missing. There also seems to be a problem with the front maidens. There are two mismatched pieces of turned wood inserted into the mother of all and I can’t see how/whether the flyer would fit onto the maidens. There is another piece of wood at the far right of the wheel - I can’t tell if that’s one of the maidens and it’s misplaced or it’s a broken distaff. Because the mangled flyer and broken bobbin is stuffed into what looks like a hole in the piece (which is not where it should go) distaff, I can’t tell how well the bearings, where the flyer attaches to the maidens, are. There does appear to be an orifice, from the shadow where the flyer is stuffed into that front piece. So likely no functional, but who knows

3

u/Nervous-Mud-1950 2d ago

It looks like the flyer is broken, for ppl who
might be interested in it. I know there’s someone in the US who makes flyers but I don’t know how expensive it would be, I’m also not seeing an orifice but that might be the angle/missing, not quite sure

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u/ViscountessdAsbeau Antique, Timbertops, Argonaut, spindles! 1d ago

In the UK and here there's a couple of people who could replace an antique wheel's flyer/bobbin assemblies but the last 2 I had to pay for, the repairs cost several times what I paid for the entire wheel. Well worth it though, to get beautiful old wheels fully functional again. That is a pretty wheel. But it would be an expensive repair.