BOBBIN BOY
THIS PAGE HAS THREE PARTS.
THE FIRST EXPLAINS WHO WE ARE & GIVES CONTACT INFO.
THE SECOND HAS ALL THE INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS/ALBUMS.
THE THIRD HAS RESTORATION & DIY INFO.
PART I: WHAT IS BOBBIN BOY?
Alan & Milissa Dewey are "Bobbin Boy", a husband &
wife team based in Asheville, North Carolina. Alan is a master woodturner from
Yorkshire & London, England, and has worked with antiques & antiques
restoration for nearly 30 years. Milissa is a PhD educated historian, a
journeyman woodturner, and also has worked in the fiberarts for over 20 years.
To contact us, please write to:
bobbinboymail@gmail.com
You are welcome to send pictures, but please send them as simple attachments.
Not in-line (PLEASE! Modern pic files are huge!) and we will never click
on links.
PART II: SPINNING & OTHER
FIBERARTS SKILLS
If you have a question about technique, history, or repairs that is not
answered here, pop us a note! If we can do what you need to know how to do, we
will make a video for you.
- hand spindles (drop & otherwise)
- the
basics with a bottom whorl (much of this applies
to any drop spindle)
- how to tie onto a bottom-whorl drop spindle
- general info useful for most flyer-based wheels (modern & antique), especially double drive
- getting started on a
spinning wheel
- starting to spin on a double drive system wheel
- practising long draw
technique
- rock-bottom plying info
- about leather washers and different types of whorls
- leather bearings on spinning wheel maidens
- double drive system wheels: putting on a new drivecord
- double drive system wheels: tips for easier tensioning
- "Help! My bobbin won't draw the thread on!"
double-drive spinning wheel start-up process & trouble-shooting
- Country Craftsman
wheels
- Canadian production
wheels
- Finnish wheels
- Louet
- ornamental wheels
For the record, we do not use the acronym "SWSO" ("spinning wheel shaped object") to denote wheels that were meant to be decorative rather than functional. We feel this term is incirrect historically & also derogatory. So we use the term "ornamental wheel". Some of these can be pushed into being working wheels, for they are extraordinarily close to being able to spin anyway.
- great / walking wheels
- general setup
- putting on the direct
drive spindle + drivecord + tensioning + beginning
to spin
- practising long draw technique
- setting up a great wheel
- basic alignment, tensioning, and spinning
- putting on the direct
drive spindle + drivecord + tensioning +
beginning to spin this may be our best video on GW spinning
- making a quill for the spindle and getting started
- how do you control the draft with just one hand?
- Minor's Head for a great wheel: how to assemble & how
it works
- Introducing...The Dewey Doubler! Alan explains his
& Milissa's invention for the Great Wheel,
which has a spindle that can be direct driven as well as
accelerated with an additional pulley as you would with
a Minor's Head / other antique accelerator.
- looms
- tools & toys
PART III: RESTORATION & DIY HOW-TO
- at home without specialized equipment
- what you can do with at-home tools
- filling cracks, checks, and shakes in wood
- hemping joins for stability:
general idea
- hemping a wobbly wheel
upright
- easy way to cut strips of leather
- making your own bobbin winder
- using a homemade lazy kate,
bobbin winder, and reeling board
- using your homemade bobbin winder as a spinning
wheel
- in a woodturning shop (i.e. you probably need a lathe)
