As I mentioned before, I test drove a handful of wheels at MD$W. I didn’t have the time to sit with each wheel for very long, and I didn’t want to hog the wheels when other people were milling about, so take my opinions for what they’re worth. (Images have been copied from the individual wheelwright or vendor of the wheels.)

Robin wheel

I spun on a full-sized, 6-year-old wheel. It was small and fairly lightweight. The treadling was smooth, and the wheel didn’t rock at high speeds. Because it’s a bobbin lead wheel, the takeup tension is pretty strong. Wheelwright Gilbert said he has a lace flyer prototype (still in his head? Or he’s only made 1 so far?), and the new design will provide faster ratios and get around the high tension problem. I didn’t try the “wee Robin,” the somewhat collapsible version intended for traveling. The sunburst inlay can be added to any wheel for additional cost. His wait list is about 2 years long.

The orifice was probably the most interesting part of the wheel, I’d not seen anything like that before. I’ll try to explain how it works. (Um, that’s assuming I understand how it works!) Imagine you’re spinning a keyring around a pencil – the ring goes round and round and makes a circle that has a pencil in the center. Now pretend the key ring is a hole bored off center of an otherwise solid orifice and the pencil is the yarn. Although the whole disk turns, one point on the circumference of the orifice is always at the exact center of the disk. (Clear as mud?) Anyway, the whole point of this setup is to minimize vibration. I test drove with my thinnest single (thinner single means more wiggle room in the orifice). Although I did notice a bit of jiggle, I think that is partly attributable to my drafting style, ie, very sharply to the left. If the yarn is always hugs the left side of the orifice, it will still be moving laterally a little bit. I suspect the spinning will be very smooth for people who spin worsted and feed yarn straight in front of them.

Overall, this was a nice wheel, but I’m just not crazy about the takeup of bobbin lead. I’m definitely going to follow up the next time I’m at MDSW and see how this lace flyer thingamabob turns out. I liked talking to Gilbert and have a solidly positive impression of him and his work.

Golding wheel

I think I spent the most time playing with this wheel at the show. It has very smooth treadling, and the triple flyer is pretty neat. I first thought what the heck do you need a triple flyer for, that’s ridiculous! But when Tom Golding showed me how the the different ratios are used as an accelerator setup (ratios ran an unusually wide gamut from approximately 3:1 to 30:1), I was all AAHHHH! I get it! That’s pretty damn clever. The craftsmanship of each wheel is impeccable… but I found the handcarving to be a little too much for my personal aesthetic sense. I love wood in shapes that highlight the beauty of the grain, and although the carving is skillfully executed, I think I prefer plainer styles.

The bronze alloy ring gives the wheel good stability and momentum, and the wheel is comfortable to treadle. I thought I detected maybe just a tiny bit of hesitation when starting the wheel, but when it was going at a good speed, the action was very smooth and required only a light touch to maintain the velocity. Tom also explained something about how the wood fits inside the ring and essentially prevents warping, but I’m not a wood person, and the explanation sort of flitted over my head. The flyer arms have a graceful lyre shape that made me smile every time I glanced at them. The entire wheel is made with sealed bearings (Thank you! Thank you! I wish more wheelwrights did this!), which means no oiling is necessary. Tom spent a lot of time thoroughly answering my questions, and I appreciated his plain-spoken manner. (When I asked to see the absolutely slowest ratio it could do, his brow furrowed and he said, “I think I can get it down to about 3:1… but why would you want to spin that slowly?”)

Overall – a wonderful spinning tool! The price is waaay out of reach for most people (the model I tried was almost $5.5K, hands down the most expensive wheel I’ve ever heard of!), but the wheel clearly has a lot of engineering and artistry behind it.