Spinning Wheel Restoration: Connecticut Chair Wheel

Welcome to my Spinning Wheel Restoration series! I am a longtime fiber artists instructor and award-winning handspinner from the Midwest, USA.

Outside of teaching, writing articles, and spinning fibers, I am extremely passionate about spinning wheels and restoring them, and I absolutely love older ones---the antiques. The spinning wheel mechanics is what pulled me into the rabbit hole for spinning. I started repairing wheels before I actually learned how to spin on one.

Fixing an older wheel has its challenges, but restoring a wheel so that it is historically accurate and functional is my goal as woodworker, metalworker, and fiber artist.

To jumpstart the Spinning Wheel Restoration series, my Connecticut Chair Wheel will get this show on the road. This is part one of this spinning wheel series.

In this video, I share:
1. A few assessments: a hidden problem with the Connecticut chair wheel I own.
2. How to disassemble the back frame from wheel to fully assess the damage.
3. How I remove square pegs from older wheels. (Bonus: This wasn't part of the original footage but I thought it would be helpful to show.)
4. How other spinning wheel parts can be used as a reference for measuring and sketching.
5. How to use a tiny metal file to create the screw threads on the lathe (with it powered off) and other solutions.
6. Testing the new part and briefly discussing finishing parts with stain.

I hope you enjoy the video and the process and happy spinning!