Swift Under Construction
And completely roughed out, at that; except for the doweling I want to use as pegs, it’s recycled materials from "stuff" I wasn’t using any more, but that was too good to just throw out. I’d rather like to find some unused 3/8" dowels around here, too; it’d be kinda neat to be able to say I hadn’t spent any cash on it. But since the only doweling I’ve been able to find is the shafts of some of my spindles, it looks like I’m going to have to break down and spend a dollar or so.
It’s not going to be as elegant as the one I posted a link to a couple of posts back, since my woodworking skills and equipment aren’t up to that level, but it will be equally functional, and as attractive as my skills permit. Plus, it will disassemble for storage (I can’t tell if the linked one does or not) in a very small space, say 28" by 6 x 6 max. That’s important here, as I don’t have much storage space at all! It’ll be able to go where the niddy-noddies are now, so a net balance in storage space, and a massive increase in convenience and speed in both winding skeins and then, when I’m ready, turning them into center-pull balls.
Right now, I’m trying to decide whether I want to stain the swift in golden oak or cherry (yes, I have both!); I know I don’t want anything darker. And what for a protective coating? Not that it’ll really need one, any more than Audrey’s antique umbrella swift did (at least I couldn’t see any traces of it having had any), but I’m so used to using something, it wouldn’t feel right not to.
Speaking of Audrey’s swift, I returned it today. She seemed quite happy that I’d been able to get it working again, and amused that I thanked her for the opportunity to fix it!
