Full Chisel Blog

I have made a couple of new parts for the Swiss Spinning Wheel and need to mix up some nitric acid to do the stain.

I also discovered that the other broken part had a previous repair and the restoration piece on the end was beech.

So, I made a new part with a longer tenon, out of cherry.

I even matched the grain slope on the piece.  I gave it a couple more coats of seed-lac and the color is close.  It is a little light, but will darken with exposure to light.

I also worried a hole in the broken leg of the wheel.  I used a long thin gouge to make the holes for the repair dowel.

I did the same thing on the loose leg and the match was good.  I used a hardwood (birch) dowel and roughened it up with a rasp to give it a key.  Clamping this presented a problem and I tried a few clamps before I just let gravity and a rope do its job.

I also served some hemp thread around the fracture and used the rope to contain or compress the leg and the weight of the wheel provided the pressure to snug up the joint.  This is one of the interesting things about doing restoration work as everything is new.  Repairs may be similar, but each piece provides a new learning experience.

And why is this entitled ‘Bad Timing’?  Well I glued this together this morning and it was in the middle of my workbench.  I was proud and happy it was together, when I realized I couldn’t work on my bench.  I wasn’t about to try and move this after fussing with the rope, knot, stick and proper tension, so I let it sit.

I will think about this next time before I loose the use of my bench.

Stephen