Whorls

See https://www.academia.edu/11841581/Efficiency_and_technique_Experiments_with_original_spindle_whorls

A good spindle is faster than most modern spinning wheels!!

The factors are the moment of inertia of the whorl, the total weight of the whorl, the diameter of the spindle, and the weight of the spindle.  (http://www.feynmanlectures.info/ )

Moment of inertia determines how long the spindle will rotate.  The moment of inertia also controls how fast the spindle can be spun. 

The total weight of the whorl and spindle determines how thin a single can be spun.  Removable whorls, allows longer and finer threads to be spun.

A light weight, high moment of inertia spindle is good for fine worsted warp that with high twist.  The required inch worm drafting limits the total yarn production. The high moment of rotation gives time for drafting a good draw.

A light weight, low moment of inertia spindle is good for fine woolen threads, particularly with small diameter spindles to deliver very high spindle rpm. Fine spindles with low moments of inertia spun with a thigh roll can achieve speed of more than 3,000 rpm, allowing very fast production of  woolen yarns, where one hand controls the spindle, and the other hand drafts. It is wicked fast, and Karina Gomer  misses just how fast it can be. It is much faster than any portable wheel. For this, I like a metal blade.  Or, I like a very thin wood blade with a small (removable) brass whorl.

In either, case, a whorl that can be removed so the copp can act as the whorl, keeps the process fast  as the moment of inertia of the copp increases

Heavier whorls are good for heavier yarns.  Heavier yarns need higher moments of inertia to overcome the higher torsional rigidity of thicker yarns, and the thicker yarns can support greater spindle/whorl weights.  Thicker yarns require much less twist, and thus less rpm.

A good spinner will choose the right spindle for the task.  In the old days, spinners had a great many tasks. And spinners had a wide selection of spindles, and they know which spindle to use on a particular task.

Respect the spindle!  Know your tools!  Use the right tool for the job.

Karina Gomer misses the physics of spindle. She gets the generalities correct such as heavy whorls working for thicker yarns, but she misses things like diameter of the spindle as affecting total spinning performance.

The drop spindle as a baseline.

By the early medieval period, it was common for spinsters (professional spinners) to rent spinning wheels.  Spinsters were paid by the length of yarn they produced, and a spinning wheel allowed them to produce more yarn, so even after paying the rent on the spinning wheel, the spinner could have a higher net income.  (The large number of spinsters kept wagers down, so many spinsters did not have the capital to own their own wheel.)

I can spin yarns in the range of 3,000 to 8,000 ypp about a third faster (e.g., 1,300 rpm) with a spindle than I can with a typical modern wheel (1,000 rpm).  Since I am not terribly proficient with a drop spindle, I assume that professional spinners could spin with a drop spindle much faster than I can (e.g., more than 2,000 rpm for some grists.) Therefor, I assume that the spinning wheels of the early medieval period were much, much faster than the typical modern wheel.  My spinning wheel spins 2 or 3 times faster than I can spin with a spindle.  I think that spinning wheels circa 1400 likely inserted twist at ~2,500 rpm or more.   This is faster than contemplated by Alden Amos.

Just prior to 1,400 ce, there were just under 400,000 textile workers in Florence, but Flanders was actually a larger producer of woolen textiles, and there were significant textile production centers in France, and England. Thus, there was a significant market for spinning wheels.  This would have justified shops where groups of craftsmen specialized in making and repairing spinning wheels. These were spinning wheels for full time professional spinners.  Some of these spinners supported tapestry weavers. These wheels were not for hobby spinners or part-time subsistence spinners or cottage craft spinners.  Regardless of their skill, cottage craft spinners did not produce the tons of  gold, silver, and silk wrapped yarns that the better tapestry weavers demanded.  A cottage cannot provide the security required for handling large amounts of precious metals on a regular basis..

And time was money.  Professional spinners were paid by the yard of yarn produced, and wanted the fastest possible equipment.  This was not a matter of bragging rights for hobbyists, but of income to support the family.

All in all, I have no doubt that Florentine spinning wheels, and even more likely, wheels made in Flanders, could run at 2,500 rpm by about 1380. Metal workers and wood workers of the time could have make all the elements of my wheel that can spin at 4,000 rpm. As a one off object it would have been very expensive, but a shop that produced dozens of wheels per year could reduce costs. Yes, they would use boxwood where I use Delrin, but with plenty of lard oil, the boxwood bearing works -- it just splatters oil, and needs to be replaced after every 2,000 or 3,000 hours of use.

Such wheels do not show up in paintings of time.  The wheels in the paintings are more symbolic, than functional. Add up how long it would take for the depicted wheel to spin the yarn required to weave all the cloth painting. Even in paintings of "spinners", someone else is doing the bulk of the spinning to produce all the cloth shown in the painting.  The culmination of this symbolism:

 Vicky wearing clothing woven from 

finer yarns than what she is spinning!

The clothing worn by Queen Victoria was mill spun, but she shown with a replica of an old technology. I expect that the same thing also happened in earlier times.

Today, we have photographs of  people spinning, and they still have not spun the yarn for all the cloth in photograph.  Even people who claim that they can spin and weave all the clothing needed by their family.

https://www.youtube.com/user/afranquemont

The best you are likely to find is somebody that spins and uses that yarn for knitting their own socks and sweaters.  

Why was the art of earlier times so different? The simple answer is that human nature has not changed.  Old spinning technology symbolizes traditional values.  What would people have thought if QV was shown in the mill where the yarn for her dress was actually spun? As a setting for a portrait, a spinning factory in 1480 would have been just as jarring as photographing Q.V. in a spinning mill in 1880. And yet, such a mill would have been a better place, and a better way for Q. V. and her ladies to develop an understanding of the tasks and roles of the common women of England, than spinning a few yards of yarn at Buckingham, Osborne, or Balmoral



Certainly any yarn can be spun with a spindle.  Finer yarns are more easily spun with a supported spindle than with a drop spindle, but it is very possible to spin wool, at it's spin count, with a drop spindle. However, it is much, much easier if the spindle has a hook, rather then trying to use a half - hitch.  Some teachers have made fun of me of me when I first made this assertion, but I note when they spin yarns finer than about 11,000 ypp they tend to use a spindle with a (metal) hook,  I have yet to see them spin wool at it's spin count using a half-hitch.  In fact, I have yet to see them demonstrating spinning wool at its spin count with a spindle.

High Whorl vs. Low Whorl Spindles

The choice between high whorl and low whorl drop spindles in usually presented as purely personal choice.  However, there are rational factors that should enter into the selection of a spindle for a particular project. Both styles of spindle have their virtues, and things that they do less well.  Between them is a middle ground where either will serve.

Bottom whorl spindles are inherently more stable.  They are suited for robust designs which tend to be heavier, and less fragile.  These designs have substantial mass (more than 30 grams) and are suited for plying and making singles with grist of less than 6,000 ypp.

Top whorl spindles can be made lighter, so that less effort is required to accelerate them to very high speed.  The high speed makes them suited to spinning high grist singles.

This is not to say that it is not possible to make a heavy top whorl spindle. However, if you want a heavy spindle, you might as well go for the stability of a bottom whorl spindle.

A heavy spindle will not spin high grist singles as fast as a (center weighted) light weight spindle. Thus, the bottom line is that a well designed top whorl spindle can spin fine singles (greater than 9,000 ypp) several times faster than a bottom whorl spindle. This is an advantage that no amount of skill or experience can overcome.

A heavy (rim weighted) spindle delivers torque to overcome the higher resistance of  low grist singles and plying. For these duties the heavier spindle is better, and gets the job done faster.  There is nothing as frustrating as trying to spin a low grist single with a spindle that does not carry enough momentum.   (Yes, Virginia, you need to ask Santa Clause for 2 spindles;  a light one and a heavier one.)

So the next time a spindle vendor tells you that their spindle is "fast", ask,  "Fast for what?"  A spindle that is fast for plying and low grist yarns will be slow when spinning lace singles.  A spindle that quickly spins lace singles will have problems spinning low grist singles (or plying).  If they say for spinning lace, ask them what they mean by "lace".  These days, lace can mean anything from 4,000 ypp to 30,000 ypp and that is a huge range.

No drop spindle is as fast as a properly selected, and tuned, DD flyer/bobbin assembly.  However, the correct spindle for the job is a whole lot faster than the wrong spindle for the project. 

Understand the Spindle! part 2

In Part I, I mentioned mass that is farther from the center of rotation slows the rotation of the spindle.  This is a dramatic effect.  Suppose you have a spindle with a 12 gram whorl in the shape of a flat disk. If that whorl is 1 inch in diameter, then the speed will be X for one "flick" that gives the spindle rotation.  If the spindle is made with a thinner whorl, then a 2 inch diameter whorl, still weighted at 12 grams, have a speed of X/8.  If the spindle is made still thinner so that it has to be 3 inches across to weight 12 grams, then the speed will be X/27.  That is, a spindle with a 1 inch whorl will spin 27 times faster than a spindle with a 3 inch whorl when they both carry the same rotation energy.  When spinning yarns of the same grist, the spindle with the 3" whorl will deliver its energy to the yarn much more slowly and be much more suited to spinning thicker yarns that require much less twist per inch.  The 3" whorl also has a longer lever arm and thus can deliver more torque.  Thicker yarn requires more torque to insert  twist into the yarn.  Thus, large whorls are better suited to spinning thicker yarns and small diameter wholes are better suited to spinning finner singles.

Cupped and rim weighted whorls, where even more of the weight of the whorl is farther from the axis of rotation result in even slower spindle rotation. This is not bad if you are learing to draft, but it is no good if you want to spin a lot of fine yarn, fast. The classic example is the CD spindle  (http://danielson.laurentian.ca/qualityoflife/Fulltext/Textiles/Making_a_cd_drop_spindle.htm ).  These are spindle with wide, thin whorls that spin slowly for a long time.  The classic Russian supported spindle (http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2007/08/how-do-you-spin-on-russian-spindle.html) has its whorl very thick and close to the axis of rotation.  As I look around, the Russian support spindle and the Tahkli are the most comon fast spindles around.  However, it was not always so. 

We find large numbers of small "whorl beads" at sites around the world. see http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/139611.html , http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/140002024 , http://antiquegreeks.info/?s=Bead+Spindle&c=37906 , http://www.stringpage.com/viking/spindles.html , and  http://www.woolery.com/store/pc/Medieval-Spindles-c281.htm .  Were these really used for spinning or were they just decorative beads?  Using metal machine nuts of size and weight similar to those described on the Viking page, I have made spindles that spin fine threads fast. To modern spinners that are accustomed to spinning with modern spindles that spin slowly, these spindles with small whorl beads spin disconcertingly fast.  Unlike the supported Russian and Tahkli spindles that are spun up with a flick, these top and bottom whorl spindles that I have been making can be spun up with thigh rolls and 2-handed tosses to truely high speeds.  Speeds that spindles with mass on a longer leverarm cannot match.

Nobody using a modern Peruvian spindle such as (http://abbysyarns.com/2011/02/peruvian-spindles-my-spindles) can spin that fast, because their spindles are have evolved by tradition to spin slower, with more torque to spin the coarse singles being produced for local utilitarian consumption.  In fact, there are modern Peruvian spinners that use metal machine nuts as spindle whorls. These spinners do spin fine threads fast, they just have not gotten as much publicity.

I do not want a spindle that spins for a long time.  When spinning fine threads (e.g., 100 wpi and much finer) , I want a spindle that transfers its energy to the thread  -- very rapidly.  That means, the spindle is spinning fast.  When my spinlde is inserting twist rapidly, it is putting energy into the thread and that loss of that energy will slow the spindle down rapidly. Thinking that a spindle can insert twist and keep on spinning is like believing in perpetual motion machines. Spindles store energy, they do not create energy.  A spindle that spins for a long time means that it is not transfering its energy to the thread.  A spindle that spins for a long time means that it is spinning slowly, transfering its energy to the thread slowly, and it is inserting twist slowly.  I am not saying that this is bad. It is necessary for thick yarns and for spinners that are slow drafters.  I am saying that traditional spinners used spindles that made spinning the kind of yarn that they wanted to spin easier and faster.  However, today we have a lot of spindles for spinning all kinds of yarns thrown on to the market, and they are not labeled as to what kind of yarn they were designed to spin.  Moreover, modern spinning teachers do not explain in any kind of  detail WHY such and such a spindle is better for a particular project.