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Melanie Smith of Boise, ID:

This is my first wheel. I have had this wheel for about 5 years. But I have known this wheel for some 30 years or so. You see my parents bought this wheel years and years ago as early American decor in their home. My mother thought it would look nice to have a spinning wheel in her living room ( although she doesn't spin, weave or knit), so my Dad found a guy who made them in Grants Pass Oregon. The maker was Joe Jorgensen. He made this model after a wheel that his great grandmother brought to Oregon on the Oregon trail, so its quite small and can be broken down to fit in a small area. As my parents remember they had two choices of wood. Oak or myrtle wood, so they chose the myrtle wood. The wheel is number 15 and has gotten much darker in color with age. Its a double drive and has two different sizes of whorls. Because my parents bought this as decoration there is only one bobbin, so I have gotten quite good at plying from pull balls. My parents after much much begging and pleading gave me the wheel. After about 5 years of enjoyment I have purchased another wheel for my everyday spinning so that I can give this wonderful vintage wheel a rest. Although I don't spin much on it these days it does sit in my living room for all to enjoy.

From Lisa Wilson, Great Falls, MT:

My first wheel came to me as a Christmas gift from a friend who knew that I had wanted to learn how to spin for the longest time. He had found it in an antique shop in New Hampshire where he lived and although the price was incredibly low, he was doubtful about the wheel because it was old and dirty and he kept telling me he didn’t know if this wheel was going to work out for me. I was a little shocked when that wheel arrived at my house because it was so filthy you couldn’t even really tell what kind of wood it was made from. The flyer was cracked in half and needed to be repaired and almost all of the original hooks where rusted and broken. Still all of the necessary parts where there so I set to work cleaning up the wheel and kept my fingers crossed that I would be able to fix the flyer. Slowly as I worked on removing years of grime a beautiful wheel began to emerge. The repair to the flyer went smoothly and all hooks were replaced. Finally the wheel was ready for a try out and to my surprise and pleasure it not only spun like a dream, it was whisper quiet and treadled so smoothly that I found myself falling asleep while spinning it was so soothing. I was off and running and I loved every minute spent spinning which really was a dream come true for me. There was however just one thing that kept bothering me. On the back of the bench of this little flax wheel there were two carved initials F.W and I became obsessed with learning who this mysterious F.W. was. I spent weeks searching the internet for any information that I could find on wheels with this stamp. Finally I got a hit…I found a post on a forum from a woman saying she had purchased a great wheel in New England with the stamp F.W. which the dealer had told her was the mark of one Francis Winkley. I immediately did an internet search on the name Francis Winkley and came up with the information that he was a wheel maker at the Shaker Canterbury Village in the early 1800’s. I contacted the Canterbury Village in New Hampshire and sent them photos of my wheel and they confirmed that this was indeed an original shaker made Francis Winkley wheel! I called the friend who gave me the wheel and told him what I had learned and he then told me that the Canterbury Village is right down the street from where he lives. I was completely amazed! Now whenever I look at my beautiful old wheel I always think about Francis and his time at the shaker village and I am filled with admiration for the man that carefully crafted this wheel which almost two hundred years later still does the work it was built to do effortlessly and with great beauty.