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Greenville New York Man Makes Primitive Machinery to Build 15th Century Spinning Wheels Right There On Their Farm...
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Sunday, February 16, 2014…The snow has ended with a grand total of around 37 to 38” in some places where we haven’t shoveled or plowed from previous snows. We got about 24” during the last major storm…and two inches yesterday. Any way you look at it…we aren’t complaining. Our ancestors dealt with this same condition in the winter, but without the modern tools we have, such as plows, snow blowers and tractors with buckets to move the snow. It must have been a back breaking, laborious task that lasted days for them back then.
The snow on roofs becomes worrisome, if we were to get any rain, for the weigh would become tremendous. If it only gets warm, then the melting would not be any heavier than the snow presently on the roof. My hope is that next week when it gets into the forties, we get at least a day of melting before any rain.
Meanwhile, there are lots of things to keep us busy in the house…Vick is still diligently processing raw fiber…skirting and picking…carding and bagging. She is very close to being finished with all the fiber and being caught up. This makes her very happy and she has done a magnificent job by herself, while I pursue different jobs and projects myself.
I work on web pages when I can…and work in the basement feverously trying to get the equipment either fixed, refurbished to work or am making primitive tooling to do the job at hand. It is interesting, fun and amazing what you can make with little effort to perform jobs the way our ancestors did before modern machines were available. The spring pole lathe is a perfect example of this. The pictures below will show the mandrel in place on the centers, just as it will be placed to turn a wheel, a hub or whatever we are making. Looking at the left, where the mandrel is turned to a 1” diameter, is where the work piece will be. The blank circle of wood will have a 1” hole in the center, slip onto the mandrel and be secured by three screws. A rope affixed to a long pedal on the floor will wrap around the mandrel two or three times and then lead up to the ceiling where it will hook onto an elastic band screwed fast to the floor joists overhead. When you press the pedal to the floor, the rope will spin the mandrel and when you release the pedal, the rope will be pulled back up, slipping on the mandrel running the other direction and grip and spin the mandrel again when the pedal is depressed again. I will install a tool rest to use the tools to make my turns on the work piece. Simple in concept and an incredibly ingenious invention considering it was made in the fourteenth or fifteenth century! For me…making it was half the fun, using it to manufacture one piece flywheels for my spinning wheels will be the rest of the fun!!!
Old antique glue fixture
My $75.00 lathe
ancient wheel lathe in process....
The wedge-lock installed...
Mandrel between centers...
Work piece inserts over small turned piece, held on by 3 screws...
We're getting there...just a few more things...
The yellow band above lathe is the pedal return...
The rest of the tools and work area....
072087 Cluckin' "A" Critter Farm, LLC
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