We first started on Numbah 20. Iwakalua in Hawaiian. Maybe that will be her name.

She was dull and very dirty. Well, who wouldn’t be after being shut up in a dusty old barn for twenty-plus years?

The leather connecting piece was missing so I couldn’t take her for a test spin.

These are the puka where the leather would go.

And the drive wheel had a gap in it.

And she had paint splatters on her.

But she was still beautiful.

The bobbins for Iwakalua were lovely, the mahogany really showing its beautiful grain.

So we began by cleaning her with Murphy’s Soap, and oh, what a difference that made!

But get bambucha pilikia! No can spin if dis puka stay covered up. Wassap wit dat?

The gap allowed the flyer to move back and cover up da puka.

But my friend on Ravelry figured out what was wrong! If you look closely at the photo above, you’ll see that there’s a metal ring on the left end of the flyer rod on both Number 32 (top) and Iwakalua. See it? Well, look at where that small kine metal ring is. Miranda figured out that the ring on Iwakalua had somehow gotten moved to the right side of the puka where it didn’t belong. So very carefully, I moved it back to the the left side of the puka and tightened it up a bit, and voila! Problem solved!

She looked good!! And she spun like a dream!

The next day, I met a friend at The Arrow Coffee Shop (formerly Hawaiian Beanz) in Damascus; she was very interested in seeing my new wheel and is an expert spinner. I also took along some fiber so that she could try spinning on it.

Jo showed me why this is a true Norwegian style wheel: this cone-shaped piece that fits over the front upright.

Number 32, Kanakolu kūmālua, didn’t look as bad as Iwakalua. She had no cobwebs on her and was dusty; I used some Murphy’s Oil on her, and then polished her with Feed n’ Wax.

She is missing a rod for the lazy kate where one of the bobbins is stored. That’s an easy fix because I know just the woodworker who can make me a new one.

But one big problem was that I couldn’t get her to spin. And this is why.

Can you see it?

How about here?

And here?

Yep, you’re right. The flyer rod is kapakahi.

You really don’t even need the yardstick to see the difference.

So I’m gonna contact Wayne, my woodworker/metal genius, and see if he can straighten it out for me.

In the meantime, I leave you with this video of Jo happily spinning on Iwakalua at the coffee shop. We agreed that wheels seem to multiply in the night when we’re not looking.

New life for a lovely old wheel! From a dirty, dusty, old barn to new life doing what she was meant to do! Victory!