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Malcolm Akehurst, a furniture maker in Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty, made several of these large kauri wheels in the mid 1970s. The design is based on a Canadian Production Wheel made a hundred years or more ago in Quebec. These are large graceful wheels which spin very fast: the ratio is often 20:1 or more.
One wheel was made for a customer who wanted it for his wife, and specified that it need not be a working model. He was firmly told "If it comes from this workshop it will work." Some time after he took delivery of the wheel he saw Mr Akehurst and said it was the worst thing he had ever bought. Why? "Well, my wife is there spinning at lunch, dinner, and so on; I have to get my own!"

The first Ashfords (February-March 1942) were double drive wheels like the first one at right, which still spins remarkably well. About 150 of these may have been made. From April of that year the design changed to a Picardy style, with the whorl between the maidens and the flyer in front of them, projecting out towards the spinner, as in the second photograph. There is now a "pigtail" instead of an orifice.
At the beginning of 1943 the whorl appears combined with the flyer, a new invention which has become characteristic of most Ashford wheels. The rather battered wheel shown here has had a crude strip of wood added between the tips of the maidens, but this is not original. The spikes to hold bobbins may also be a later addition. These wheels sold well till the end of the war in 1945, after which demand fell off and Ashford produced no more wheels till the advent of the first Traditional in 1965.
More on Ashford and their wheels
Hal Atkinson (1895-1975) of York Bay, Eastbourne - across the harbour from Wellington - made spinning wheels as well as toys and rocking horses, and built several boats. Atkinson family members recall that his wheels all had the concentric circles on the treadle.
This wheel is made of kauri, a beautiful but rather soft native timber that Atkinson also used for his boats, and it shows the grooves of long use.
It has tilt tension and an unusual fine corkscrew pigtail instead of an orifice. There is a stamped mark underneath the table, and another Atkinson wheel has almost the same stamps. When the two sets of marks are compared it is fairly clear that they say





Mr J.W. Graham of Okaihau, near Kaikohe in Northland, made this wheel and others like it throughout the second World War. It is made of kauri, has no stamp or markings and cost 4 pounds 10 shillings in 1944 (including freight to the South Island). This was his 65th wheel. It's thought that some were sent to the Islands or India.
Hamilton wheels is the name usually applied to these. They were apparently made in a workshop set up by the Returned Servicemen's Association of Hamilton during the second World War. It has been said that the chief maker was a Mr Ewison but efforts to trace him have so far failed.
Unlike most older wheels they are designed to run equally well either double drive or scotch tension - this one is set up for scotch tension, using the original guide and peg. Hamilton wheels are made of kauri, and held together with wooden pegs. The crank which connects the axle to the footman is curved, a feature also found in some of the best norwegian-style wheels, which some spinners believe makes for particularly smooth treadling. Modern wheel-makers, however, say the curved crank is a purely aesthetic feature.


Karure wheels were being made by John L. Moore in the early 1940s (and very possibly earlier) when he was living in Havelock North. They are double drive, tilt tension wheels, with the flyer assembly on the right, as shown in the second photograph (a back view). The number and placing of bobbin holders can vary. Similar but cruder wheels with different dimensions are occasionally seen, presumably copies.


Miro wheels were made by John L. Moore, and seem to have been developed later as a smaller, lighter, cheaper wheel than the Karure.
Mr E. Nicolson of the Hutt Valley made these wheels including a number for Miss Aileen Stace of Eastbourne. The name "La Paloma" is associated with the first wheel pictured, but no markings are now visible. The wood he used was dunnage from the Korokoro tip.
Another is known which is marked "E. Nicolson" underneath. It was bought new in 1942 for 5 pounds.

The bobbins have a metal shaft, and the spindle runs in metal bearings. A hook flips over to secure the orifice. A cord is used instead of the usual rigid footman. "Queen Victoria had a spinning wheel with a cord footman" says Mr Poore, "which is all that is needed for a downward foot movement and is very light."

The Rappard Northern European was made in Dunedin by John Rappard. By the early 1980s, two styles are found - the wheel on the left was bought for $200 in 1980, whereas the one on the right, with its much more elaborate turnings and extra spokes, was bought for $400 in 1981.
R.D. Maxwell was the maker of the wheel on the left, according to the paper label glued to the drive wheel. The label reads "Manufactured by R.D. Maxwell Cabinetmaker. Manufacturer of all types of high-class furniture." There is an address in Penrose, Auckland. In the Post Office Directory, R.D. Maxwell is listed as a cabinetmaker at that address from 1966 to 1971 and it is during this period that he was assembling Sleeping Beauty wheels for Baillie and Watts. The wheel closely resembles the later Sleeping Beauty saxony in turning and general appearance, though it has a screw handle and sliding tension, which was soon replaced by a hinged mother-of-all as in the second photograph. This wheel still has the plain legs of the earliest model.


Guy Wagg who made these wheels came from a family who had been wheelwrights and coachbuilders in Masterton for generations. The one on the left dates from the early 1960s. The end section of the table tilts to adjust the tension, and is secured by a screw with a wooden handle. This is shown more clearly in the right hand photo, which is a back view of a different wheel.