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Friday, October 30, 2009

Old Spinning Wheel Gets a Face Lift



I sold a spinning wheel last week and took in an old Louet S-10 as a trade. It worked well, and was made before Louet switched to cheaper parts. Heavy. Reliable. Slow. The customer warned me that the finish was bad, that she had bought it used in that condition, but since I'm now hooked on refinishing, I told her I didn't mind.

First photo you can see the disassembled wheel in its box. The stain had been slopped on in a very haphazard manner. There were drips and blobs, and some spots with no stain at all. Ewww.

First, I took all the hardware off and sanded. And sanded. And sanded. I couldn't get down past the bad spots of stain. I tried staining a sample area and the old stains showed through. Scratch that idea.

Majacraft paints its Suzie wheels with enamel paint and it's HARD. So I bought two colors of enamel and painted. First I primed each piece. Then I started layering on the paint. I sanded between coats, and even sanded after the final coat. Then I stenciled on the roses and put it all together.

The old girl spins like a dream! It will be a good wheel for spinning soft, low-twist singles. The wheel is so heavy that I'm not tempted to speed (treadling a Majacraft is like driving a race car - I MUST go FAST!). I'll keep it until someone falls in love with it, then I'll reluctantly let it go to a new home!

5 comments:

  1. Oh does she look great!!! Nice job!

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  2. WOW thats pretty! It also looks right at home with country roses on it :-)

    Great job!

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  3. You did a fantastic job on this! It is inspiring ;) I just found your blog from your Ravelry page and I have really had fun reading it...wish we lived closer ;) Your new spinning room/workshop looks lovely!

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  4. Beautiful job you did on that wheel.

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  5. Looks great. I am glad you said what you did about Majacraft being a race horse. i tend to pedal really fast on my suzie pro (and then use a larger whorl) not because i have to but because i enjoy it. I was trying some other wheels (mostly portable) at Rhinebeck and several dealers asked me why i pedaled so fast and i realized that is my habit with my Suzie. It doesn't help that i am a bicyclist so i am used to pedaling fast. My Suzie Pro doesnt seem to mind at all.

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