The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Food & crafts => Crafts => Topic started by: Fleecewife on March 05, 2015, 12:36:50 am

Title: Cleaning my spinning wheel - success at last
Post by: Fleecewife on March 05, 2015, 12:36:50 am

I oil my spinning wheels  :spin: frequently and when I first started spinning 20 years ago I used neatsfoot oil  :cow:. It seemed to work ok, and that's what I had.  Then I tried baby oil and I began to see a sticky sludge developing with the two oils interacting to make glue.  So I changed to gun oil (supplied by Wingham Wool Works), hoping its action would help clean up the bearings.  I'd tried ever since the first reaction to get rid of the gunk, but nothing I tried such as acetone and white spirit would touch it.
 It became an emergency tonight when my wheel was sticking and too heavy to treadle  My dearest other half, Mr F, came in with a spray can of Electrical Switch Cleaner, and in just a few minutes I have a happy machine with immaculate bearings.  I will only use gun oil from now on - the wheel is so clean and runs like a dream.  No wonder my spinning was getting lumpy when all that gunk was there.

So, if you need to clean up the bearings on your wheel, try Electrical Switch Cleaner.

Title: Re: Cleaning my spinning wheel - success at last
Post by: SallyintNorth on March 05, 2015, 08:33:14 am

Great tip, thanks FW! 

Title: Re: Cleaning my spinning wheel - success at last
Post by: Louise Gaunt on March 05, 2015, 08:35:56 am

A useful piece of advice! Thanks. Glad your wheel is running better now  :spin:

Title: Re: Cleaning my spinning wheel - success at last
Post by: Bionic on March 05, 2015, 09:04:24 am

Thanks Fleecewife  :thumbsup:

Title: Re: Cleaning my spinning wheel - success at last
Post by: Fleecewife on March 06, 2015, 04:32:30 pm

 :thumbsup: I'm actually enjoying my spinning again now  :spin: :excited: