I am thinking of making an umbrella swift and a ball winder to go with it. I would like, if possible, to make it with seven sides instead of the traditional six and use various hard woods for the construction. I do have a plan for the basic swift, but not for a ball winder. Does anyone know where I could find a plan for one? I would like suggestions on what woods to use for the swift. Each side is made of four 1/4″x 1/2″ sticks which are 16″ long. The sticks are attached to the central shaft by two turned pieces and some wire. Since each side has four sticks, I was thinking of making the sticks from four different hardwoods, like cherry, walnut, mahogany, and maple and using different woods for the other parts.
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Replies
Okay, I will bite. What is an "umbella swift?" I know. I could probably Google it but I would like to see an answer here.
Thanks, George
You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing. - Michael Pritchard
Dusty,
Click on the link in justlees post or:
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&tab=wi&hl=en&q=umbrella%20swift
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 6/18/2007 10:26 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
A swift is a mechanism for putting on a skein of yarn so it can be wound into a ball. An umbrella swift collapses to quite small when not in use and will expand to accept various sizes of skeins. It needs to turn freely around the central shaft. I am thinking of using a white oak dowel for the central shaft.I am also trying to decide if the sticks that need to be held together at a pivot should be held with rivets or a small nut and bolt assembly.
We have a local spinners club that might know. I'll ask one of the members.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
There was an episode of Woodwright's Shop where he made a niddy noddy and a weaver's swift. I didn't watch the episode as I didn't think I'd ever need to know how to build either!
Some info on the episode can be found at http://www.ket.org/cgi-bin/tvschedules/episode.pl?nola=WOWS++002507&cd=1&&layout=popup
Thank you for the link to that show. I wish that one was airing again soon. As far as I can tell, the key is that the pieces can take the strain of moving and be smooth enough not to snag the yarn. I don't think anything but the base where it clamps to the table and the central shaft has much stress. Are there any exotic hardwoods that would be good to make one set of the shafts? One set is seven sticks sixteen inches long and quite thin, so even an exotic would not break the bank.
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