While spindle-whorls are common archaeological finds, and while there are hundreds of dozens of spindles in all kinds of homes, working or not, the spindles themselves - that is, the sticks - are not something commonly seen for sale on markets. Medieval spindles are usually rather slender with a double-conical form. With as little as two or three millimetres diameter at the ends, and not much more than a centimetre at the thickest place, they are too slim to be turned on just any lathe - the thin stick starts to wobble, making an efficient production difficult or impossible. But spinning with a much thicker double-conical spindle stick, which would pose no problems when turning, will not work as well. And, even more important, that stick won't fit the whorls so smoothly. And you want your spindle to fit your whorls, all of them, so you can just change. For example, have three spindle sticks, spin on one until it's full, spin on the second until it's full, and then ply both singles together on the third stick before removing your ball of plied yarn from that spindle, freeing all three again. And that will work only if you can change your whorl from spindle stick to spindle stick - and preferably, if you have more than one whorl, this would work with any of your stash.
In contrast, most modern spindles are seen differently, with the whorl and the spindle stick firmly belonging together. And most spindle makers just have their own method that will cut out the need for double-conical spindle sticks - often they use a stick that is firmly fixed to the whorl and not conical in shape.
However, if you prefer to use and store your spindles the medieval way, here is a spindle stick with the required double-conical form.While many of the surviving spindle sticks are longer than 20 cm, the full range goes from approximately 15 cm to about 35 cm length. This small spindle stick, inspired by a lathe-turned stick found in York, is at the short end of the range, measuring 17 cm in length. This makes the stick short enough to fit into almost any bag - ideal for a small project on the go.
The stick is made from maple wood and has c 8-9 mm diameter at its thickest part, tapering to about 3 mm at the ends. One stick weighs approximately 3 to 5 grams.
You can either leave them untreated and use them that way or finish them with your choice of oil or wax. The spindles should fit about any whorl, and they are an absolute pleasure to spin with.
