This week focuses on spinning wheel tension!

I found a PDF of the “Great Wheel Round Up” from the Fall 2008 issue of Spin-Off.  The prices are outdated, but there is still valuable information on the wheels and their tension types. (Note: BO = Bobbin Lead = Irish Tension)

As the Wheel Turns (pdf, page 11) from Arizona.edu addresses Scotch tension and Indian Head tension wheels.

Under Tension Part 1 & Part 2 from the blog post New Zealand Spinning Wheels and Their Makers and Other Writings First published in Creative Fibre vol.16 no.3 (December 2013)

A short under 4-minute video providing brief descriptions of Scotch, Irish, and Double Drive tensions on spinning wheels from The Woolery.

A slightly longer video (great for spinning along while you watch or listen) on Spinning Wheel Tension, also posted on YouTube by The Woolery.

You will find some spinning wheels that can switch from double drive to a Scotch tension brake band, such as Ashford, Kromski, and Jensen. Kromski North America has a few new Voyager Trading – Tim Talks videos on YouTube. I found one about changing it over.

When your tension is all wrong. Spin-Off Spinning Tips: Troubleshooting article by Denise Jackson. This article was published in the Fall 2011 issue of Spin Off.

Best Practice: Loosen the tension knob and let the drive band drop down and remain loose. This helps prevent warping of the wheel and stretching of the drive band.

Hopefully, this has eased some of your tension problems, and your spinning is flowing smoothly.

Until next week…