Our client wanted to have the family spinning wheel conserved, but no longer for use (it is very old). It will be for her future generations to have.
FAMILY HISTORY
Two sides of her family migrated to American from Denmark, and married here. Karen, who originally owned the spinning wheel, died in Denmark in 1911, and the spinning wheel came to America with Sophie when she migrated with her brother Christian. Her father had come to America earlier to homestead near Luck, Wisconsin. They were married in St. Peters, a small Lutheran church near the homestead in North Luck, WI, in September 1894.
The spinning wheel was kept at the homestead, and Robert, their son, our client’s grandfather, remembers running the pedal with his foot as a child.
ASSESSMENT
Below, our images before treatment taken on top of a badly damaged desk top in MPF Conservation’s (MPFC for short) studio, shown from different angles.
The small European spinning wheel was crafted from chestnut, oak, and we could not determine some of the turnings, but suspect chestnut. Mitchell believes it may have been crafted in Hungary in the eighteenth century.
The painted finish did not photograph well, but has a reddish tinge to the dark paint.
It has been in storage, and we found spiders nesting, right, but no worm holes, often seen in older wooden pieces! The finish was in good condition, with normal wear seen on a piece of this age which has been treated kindly.
MPFC found the following items to be treated:
- Leg tenons were loose, and pins were degraded in the mother-of-all.
- The small turned spindle (the maiden) was not an original piece of this wheel, but had been borrowed from another similar model.
- The treadle and support were being held together with string, shown below!
Note: If you want to know about general spinning wheel’s
various parts here is a link with a good diagram.
EXCAVATION & REPAIR
The spinning wheel was laid on its side, as the base and the loose legs were excavated, shown below.
The tenons were wrapped with thin veneer to add girth to the tenon, in order to make the legs stable. The veneer was glued, and clamped to cure, above.
After curing, the clamps were removed, and the veneer was shaped and smoothed, above.
Each leg was reinserted back into the appropriate base mortise at the proper angle, ensuring it would be stable when set upright, and glued, shown above and right.
Originally it was not glued, however, we felt that hide glue was necessary for the overall life of the wheel at this time. Hide glue is reversible.
The maiden was upside down in its mortise when it came to us, and we assume it was often setting that way as it was not the right size.
We modified the maiden to properly fit by narrowing the bottom inch of the turning to correspond with the mortise.
No images of the narrowing were useable.
The treadle and support, which was held together by strong, were also repaired, and no images of that process were clear.
A pin was also added to stabilize the leg further, shown right.
The wheel was reassembled, shown below, and ready for FINISH work.
FINISH
Mitchell used a black wax mixed with Gamblin’s Gamsol on the painted finish, brushed, scoured, and burnished to patina, shown below.
BEFORE AND AFTER TREATMENT
Above and below, images of the spinning wheel before and after treatment.
Details are all after treatment.
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Note: No before image of this angle, below
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After treatment, below.
Flax wheels are not often seen, yet we have had several grace our studio.
Below is the first one, ages ago; you can click to visit the blog post.
iPhone destroyed several days of images in their update.
Written by Kate Powell ©MPF Conservation.
May be printed for your own use ONLY, not for use on blogs without permission.
