This week is all about 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 The prices are outdated, though there is still great information on the wheels and their tension types.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 <4 minute video giving brief descriptions of Scotch, Irish and Double Drive tensions on spinning wheels from The Woolery:
A bit longer video (good for getting some spinning in while you watch/listen) on Spinning Wheel Tension, also posted on YouTube by The Woolery:
You will find that there are some spinning wheels that can change 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 out on YouTube. I found one on 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: The tension knob should be loosened and the drive band dropped down and left loose. This will eliminate warping of the wheel and stretching of the drive band.
Hopefully, this has relieved some of your tension issues and your spinning is breezing along with smooth spinning.
Until next week…