Make~ing~ a Spinning Wheel

• Duncan Meyers
• Activities , Woodworking
• March 17, 2014

I love working with wood and building things, but haven’t been able to in a very long time. But after becoming a member of the Anchorage Makerspace – I now have access to all the tools and workspace I need to get back into doing what I enjoy.

My project is a Spinning Wheel, like the one shown below, which is the original creator’s fine work.

I’d like to share with you the pictures of making it and the final finish. I started with just taking some scrap 2×4’s that I had laying around the shop. Using the table saw, I planed off the exterior of the wood to be able to see the interior grain and then cut them according to the plans I found at:

http://www.spinningdaily.com/media/p/9016.aspx

I decided to go with a more original look and used 1/4″ oak dowels for pinning the wheel together.

I had to fashion my own jig, in order to make sure that each segment had holes that lined up correctly.

Pinning the segments together with wood glue and dowels.

At this point I decided to work on the base and back support pieces.

The plans called for using 1×4’s, but I didn’t want to buy them, so I just planed 2×4’s to fit my need.

Once I had all the pieces cut and looking good, I pre-drilled the pilot holes and counter sinks. I then went on to put a 45 degree angle cut on the edges of the wood, using the table saw; and then finished it off with a light sanding of 220 grit.

This is the top pulley that is driven by the large wheel and turns the spindle, that spins the wool.

There should be a bunch of pictures here of the final assembly, but when your the only one at the shop working…lol

So here it is assembled and I had Rob take a picture of me burning the finish into the wood.

And the finished spinning wheel:

Thank you for following,

If you would like to build one of these yourself at the Anchorage Makerspace or at home, come by our shop and I’ll share what I learned about building one.