Given the background, then, we can all understand that I get a tad nervous when the hubbo sits in the chair next to my spinning wheel, in the evening, sipping beer and watching it.
It squeaks. I'd say all, or nearly all, spinning wheels squeak. Any of them with metal-on-metal joints, at least. And the rest probably make creaking noises. This, well, it offends the husbeast's sensibilities. Given his work history and everything. There are times he has stomped upstairs from the man cave, grabbed a pencil (graphite 'lead' is an excellent lubricant), held it against the squeaky part until it shut up, and gone back to his cave without a word.
A few weeks ago, he appeared with this.
As we know, our foremothers back to the middle ages always resorted to space age elements to lube our spinning wheels.
What the hell, I figured. Worth a laugh at least, and old meets new always cracks me up.
No squeaking. It was glorious.
It lasted about half an hour. The paint rubbed off, and we were back to the usual.
Wait until payday, the husbeast said. This sounded vaguely like a threat to me, but the whole thing was cracking me up (molybdenum spray paint, seriously).
Payday arrived, and the husbeast showed up with this
As I spun, he carefully dabbed a bit on the appropriate parts.
Silence again.
This time it lasted. It's been about a week, I plyed 600 yards of silk-merino blend, switched bobbins around, started on another project, and...
Silence.
It's quite lovely.
Silence isn't golden. It's a matte dark grey. With lube.
(The magical potion is DuraLube engine treatment, available at any auto supply store for about $20. A bottle will last you the rest of your life, just using it on your wheel. Maybe go in on a bottle with other spinners?)
I married a madman.
Works for me.
6 comments:
No, you didn't marry a madman, you married a creative man who THINKS his way through puzzles to find solutions that aren't mainstream but interesting and they work.
I'd love a Husbeast; I got a Durwood who is the sweetest kindest man who thinks I'm freaking awesome but he's kind of a Luddite when it comes to machinery. Good thing I'm the granddaughter of a mechanic and a carpenter, otherwise I'd have even more tradespeople on the payroll.
I say again, your Husbeast is awesome.
Omg-- that's perfect. And yes, very Husbeast.
good to know that there's a lifetime supply of squeak-stopping stuff for 20 bucks! proof yet again that said husbeast is a keeper. (mine both were throwbacks.)
wish i had someone to do some light fab: a few days ago, with my usual grace, i stepped backward, fell out of my right croc and hit the floor, taking my cherished ashford joy -- fortunately not yet unfolded after an outing -- with me. i was lucky, in that no parts of me broke, and the only part of my wheel that broke was the little peg that tightens the fishing line that goes over the bobbin. (wheel nomenclature is another area where i could use some help.)
later tonight i'm going to try substituting the orifice hook, since it's the same shape/size (minus the hook, of course). there's no hole for the fishing line, but i figure i can knot the line on there somehow.
Does he have, like, an eighth of a roll of nuke tape lying around?
My original (old) spinning wheel makes several squeakin noises but the new one, a kiwi, is silent. My husband LIKES the squeaky one becuse he likes being somewhere else in the house and hearing my wheel squeak as it spins.
I like the fact that the new one is quiet.
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