Mystery Spinning Wheel

Bush carpentry and an old fashioned do-it-yourself attitude lie behind this rough and ready spinning wheel. The horizontal style wheel has a number of well thought out design features, like the bobbin-holder that swings out and the skeiner attached in front of the wheel, that are accompanied by a “she’ll be right” construction that includes wire, fencing nails, rough tacks and a leather drive cord.

The wheel was made by Ted Grayburn, a farmer with a penchant for tinkering in his garage, during the early 1940s. Family sources remember Ted seemed more interested in mechanics than farming and he was known to have an interest in the violin. Why he felt the urge to build a spinning wheel for himself is a mystery, possibly he had the idea of producing yarn to knit for the war effort. His wife Adeline did not spin, the couple had no children and he never seems to have tried to make a buck from his endeavours.

Mary Knox, who has been studying New Zealand made spinning wheels, says that thanks to the ravages of time the wheel is no longer in working order but she is sure it would have done the job, even if the spinning action was not the smoothest.