A bevy of swifts.

Ryan Mooney

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I wasn't actually sure where to post this as it has flat work, hand work and spinny work :p I generally don't have many projects interesting enough to share, I figured this one might be sort of amusing (even if its not up to the standards of some of y'all, we're all learning). Lots of fiddly little pieces anyway (32 pieces of wood per swift plus a couple dozen pieces of metal).

All done in oak (why oak? Because I have a lot of oak scraps, thats why :D). Finished with 6 coats of wiping varnish and 2-3 coats of paste wax (depending on the part).

The whole crew. Why make one when 4 only take twice as long.
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Close up showing how the yarn goes around it. Allows it to be unwound without tangling (in theory).
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The top part. The knobby bit is just compression fit to the top of the shaft. The shaft here is stepped down and the spinny bit is has a stepped hole inside to match. Both the shaft and the spinny bit have metal bearing surfaces (made from filed-to-fit washers) where they make contact with each other.

This also shows how the arms are held to the spinny bits. Electrical wire in a groove and a little solder. There are actually 20 solder joints per swift including all of the arm-arm and arm-cross piece rings (so 80 solder joints in all).
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The bottom of the spinning assembly. The collar slides up and down and is locked in place with the knob. The knob is just a block of wood epoxied around a bolt that was then ground to length (and smoothed on the end so it wouldn't chew up the shaft to fast). A threaded brass insert goes through the collar.
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The clampy-to-the-table bits. Nothing super complicated, same idea on the knob as for the collar. The clamping piece just floats between two nuts (ground smooth and round) that are epoxied to the bolt. The upper nut is inset into the clamping piece to avoid overly marring the furniture.
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Overhead view just to mess with your mind.
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Another view of one with some yarn on it.
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Here is how they get used....had to look it up ...Thanks for sharing Ryan.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=/watch?v=Il2Hw8NcYQM&v=Il2Hw8NcYQM&gl=CA

Thanks, they aren't the most obvious things in operation :D

If you'll compare closely you'll notice the swift in the video is.. somewhat smaller than the ones I made. I've gotten some "feedback" on that form loml :D I didn't really have plans so they were sort of made up based on a few pictures and some guesses.

The next ones I make will be less oversized (I have another style I want to try that I think I can slightly improve on existing designs... we'll see, the next round is a simpler design, although I wouldn't mind doing another set of umbrella swifts to see if I can do better). A ball winder is also in the queue as an exercise in off center turning (Check the video here for how a ball winder works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKlBKtdvAzM).

Loml is into the yarn and wool thing so I've been playing along. Some of the tools they use are pretty interesting woodworking projects.
 
Very neat, Ryan. :thumb:

By the way...simple projects, complex projects, we all learn from seeing all of them. So don't hesitate to share yours, no matter how complex they are. ;)
 
Ken, I hear you please be cautious, bad things can happen :rofl:. The problem I have is loml shows me something and is all "you can probably make this".. the answer is generally yes and nicer, but the list is looong.

Roger:

Simpler ones work just as well, perhaps even better, I've never let something functionality slow me down from doing some crazy project though :D

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bevy claims:

Noun, plural bev·ies.
1.a group of birds, as larks or quail, or animals, as roebuck, in close association.
2.a large group or collection: a bevy of boisterous sailors.

Origin
early 15c., collective noun of quails and ladies, from Anglo-Fr. bevée, of unknown origin. One supposed definition of the word is "a drinking bout," but this is perhaps a misprint of bever, from O.Fr. beivre (see beverage). Still, it's possible that the original sense could be a company of birds gathered at a puddle or pool for drinking or bathing.

Somehow the feminine connotations and the tie in with birds (swift/swifts) fit, I have no real idea what the correct term is for a group of yarn swifts but I'm rolling with it and I just like the way it rolls off of the tongue.

My next swift like project in the queue is a hybrid swift / spinners weasel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinners_weasel (incorporating some features of both a swift and a weasel, then I can have a bevy of weasels), but there are a few big projects before I get to that one :D - And now you know the probable origin of "Pop goes the weasel"...
 
Very cool Ryan. Have a co-working wanting one, lives and breaths knitting and crocheting in her spare time. I think I've got a picture of one in a shaker book I got from Ken Werner, want to say he made one as well, but could be wrong. Would be interested in the process if you're wanting to share.
 
Darren, you remember correctly. I made one for LOML, when she started weaving. She borrowed a friend's and I copied it. A few years ago, I found and bought one at a garage sale that turns out to be from Hancock Shaker village circa 1850.

swift open.jpg

Swifts are really cool. Ryan, you did a really nice job. BTW, the Shakers made them in various sizes. The cup at the top is to hold a ball of yarn.
 
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Very cool Ryan. Have a co-working wanting one, lives and breaths knitting and crocheting in her spare time. I think I've got a picture of one in a shaker book I got from Ken Werner, want to say he made one as well, but could be wrong. Would be interested in the process if you're wanting to share.

Darren, I would be plumb happy to answer any questions you might have or take dimensions/closer pictures; although mine are over engineered and under thought :D. I wouldn't do it quite the same next time, to slow and there are some parts that could be made simpler/better.

If you compare the picture Ken posted with mine you can see a few inefficiencies in construction on mine and some tweaks on his that really stand out:
  • First and foremost is the rotating parts that the slats attach to. I did stopped slots in mine on the theory that it would be stronger (imho its slightly prettier as well, but the more classic shaker look has a lot going for it to). He simply made the piece a little larger and made a through slot. This would have saved ~30 minutes of work per swift in fashioning and about the same in finishing. It would also have been a bit less fussy to assemble. If you jjigged up with a router guide with the indexing system on the lathe mine could be done in bulk at close to the same speed but in sets of four that didn't make sense so I just marked and chiseled them out with a small/sharp mortise chisel.
  • The stop block on the bottom, notice how Kens is reduced at the top. That lowers the friction and enables a larger/stronger/easier to make piece.
  • The ones I made are definitely overly large, doesn't really affect the usage much but they take up more space. My rough numbers are that the slats should be about 9 inches long (what would handle the largest piece yarn I've seen), mine are 16". Everything else is pretty much dimensioned off of those.
  • Five slats instead of six. That's 4 less pieces and three less joins per swift :D
  • I'm not sure on the tying together with string vs the soldering rings. I think its about six of one. I like the look of the soldered rings but fear for their longevity, especially on the extremities (string is easy to replace).

If you want to just get one made for someone the two crossed sticks version is a lot faster to make, something like this:
http://www.joann.com/amish-design-wooden-yarn-swift/zprd_10148997a.

I'm planning on doing a few of that style later but making it so the adjustment pegs slide for continuous adjustment and have the base be a clamping base with a variable angle adjustment so it can either sit flat or hang vertical off of the edge of a table and also have a handle so you can use it for winding (may add a counter kind of like a weasel has as well - yes I can overengineer anything :rofl: :rolleyes:).

Ken,

I'm not actually sure how useful the yarn holding cup is (I'd seen them in pictures but decided to go more decorative instead)? I suppose if you were manually winding the ball a place to put it when you get tired or distracted would be useful (presumably they didn't have ball winders).

Also if you have a side or closer picture of the table clamping mechanism I'd be interested in seeing that better, I'm unconvinced my design is the best one :D.
 
Ryan, the swift I posted is not the one I made. It is the original Shaker piece, for which I am fortunate to be the current caretaker.
The one I made is much more clunky.
Truth be told, the original is beautifully done, and shows mastery of detail and efficiency.
I'll see if I can get some images for you later.

Also, I can see why you thought it's 5 sets of slats, but there are 6.
The slats on the old one were held together with string, they are bound rather loosely, I think this protects the somewhat fragile wood of the slat, rather than the metal ring. I guess better to have the string fail and the wood hold.
 
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more pics

The clamp which attaches to a table:
Note the wooden threads

bottom clamp.jpg

the spindle clamp:
smaller wooden threads
spindle clamp.jpg

this is the middle of the slats, as they cross each other, they are held with rivets.
rivets.jpg

I sent photos of the old swift to an expert on them, he told me it was from Hancock ca 1850s.
My heart leapt when I went to Hancock Shaker village, and saw several swifts with the same details as mine.
Also, June Sprigg's book Shaker Design has a photo of one which could be its twin.
I'm not usually this lucky.
 
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Thanks Ken, that really is a classic beauty. There is a lot of elegance and well placed thought there. I find its often hard for me to appreciate as much until I've fumbled around myself, then its more obvious how clever the original builders were.

I do like the rivets but couldn't find ones I liked locally. Next time I may just order some. I made the rings I used by wrapping some galvanized wire around a stick and then cutting with side cutters and soldering it together.

I was originally going to use wood threads but discovered that trying to cut threads in oak is problematic. Next time I'll probably use a more amenable wood for those parts (cherry maybe). Oak seems pretty good for the slats as its pretty tough if you get pretty straight pieces. With the scrap I was using I was able to re-saw it to get a fair bit of quarter sawn look which is nice.
 
That's OK, I was just yankin' yer chain. :D I'm partial to "a bevy of beauties."

Oh, don't weasels eat swifts? :p

I know :thumb: :D

I'm not sure, swifts can reportedly stay in the air for up to two years :eek:, so it would have to be a pretty clever weasel to get one there. I'd bet they could get them in the nest though (haven't heard of flying weasels boy that'd be something to keep you looking up... especially if they were big ones like wolverines). I'll have to use some special handling to get them to cross... could be ugly.
 
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