tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21068675.post6808050842994554722..comments2024-03-11T11:38:56.028-07:00Comments on A Fisherman Knits: Accelerators and the Miner's headAaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05150805906414546377noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21068675.post-88101906628899413442014-03-11T17:14:47.912-07:002014-03-11T17:14:47.912-07:00Jane,
1. Look in Alden Amos, The Big Book of Hand...Jane,<br />1. Look in Alden Amos, The Big Book of Handspinning and look at his discussion of types of spinning wheels. When I was a lad, the same kinds of wheels showed up in my Illustrated History of Technology. They are real. <br /><br />Tools do not end up in museums. Do you see stone chisels in every collection that has fine stone work? How about the dividers and rules that the masons used?<br /><br />2.) My point is that great wheels are slower than a well made flyer wheel, thus there was an economic advantage to using a flyer in the very competitive textile industry of the 16th century. You can make wonderful yarn with a drop spindle, but the process will be slower than making the yarn with a great wheel. Thus, there was an economic advantage to using a great wheel in the very competitive textile industry of the 13th century. The point is that textiles are a large competitive industry.<br /><br />3. In Chaucer's time there were 35,000 textile workers in Florence and Florence was only a small part of the Italian region producing large amounts of wool cloth. At that time, there were also large textile industries in Flanders and York. Spinning was an industrial job just like making cars was in the 1950s. It was a job.<br /><br />Look at the yarn in the Tapestries from Brussels circa 1520 on display at the Louvre. Note how fine, uniform, and closely co-ordnated the spinning is. That is the work of extraordinary crafts-persons, working closely together. These were not cottage spinners that had no other way of earning money, these were talented professionals working as a group. The folks that made the great tapestries, and the fine fabrics for the rich and powerful did have a desire for perfection.<br /><br />We cannot lump all the spinners together. There were cottage spinners on the moor of Yorkshsire and spinning factories in Flanders. Spinners worked in wool, linen, nettles, silk, and other fibers. And, we need to remember that the yarn for the sails of Christopher Columbus's ships was spun with drop spindles.<br /><br />Spinners spinning low grist yarns do not need high rpm spinning tools. On the other hand, a spinner spinning fines (60s-80s, 30,000 - 45,000 ypp) does need all the twist they can get.<br /><br />We know that fines were spun as a commercial product. If people want to talk about this phase of the hand spinning industry, then they should be also be able to spin fines at a commercial pace. Anything written by anyone that does not understand the spinning of fines does not matter.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05150805906414546377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21068675.post-49370899173906037002014-03-11T03:13:14.452-07:002014-03-11T03:13:14.452-07:001. If spinners used your accelerators, where is th...1. If spinners used your accelerators, where is the evidence? Why don't we see these items in museums? Or is this like your fictional ganseys?<br />2. If great wheels are so inferior, how did medieval people produce some of the stunning fabrics that *do* exist in museums?<br />3. Most people who span for money did it out of necessity, not out of a desire for perfection. They were poor people fitting in spinning at spare moments between their other tasks and they were paid a pittance. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204585937123117535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21068675.post-56702447241461684182014-03-10T11:48:15.355-07:002014-03-10T11:48:15.355-07:00See Alden Amos, Big Book of Handspinning. 3 of th...See Alden Amos, Big Book of Handspinning. 3 of the 11 (flyer/bobbin) spinning wheel designs illustrated have accelerators. Many of his sources are still widely available - talk to your librarian, and Google is your friend. <br /><br />However, every spinner should own a copy of his book. He gets more correct, and less wrong, than any other author on spinning.<br />Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05150805906414546377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21068675.post-44856247052737112562014-03-09T12:14:42.472-07:002014-03-09T12:14:42.472-07:00What do you mean by 'accelerators' on flye...What do you mean by 'accelerators' on flyer wheels? Do you have a picture, patent, description, or other source that would show this?Gough Whitlamnoreply@blogger.com