Fascinating History of Wooden Spool Making Mill

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Sally of Tinkering Times points us to this fascinating video taken during a tour of the Stott Park Victorian Bobbin Mill in Cumbria, England. It’s an amazing look in to how wooden bobbins (spools) were crafted for threads of all kinds for more than a hundred years. You get to hear how the bobbins are created from different types of wood through each step of the process. The steam-powered machinery is incredible, but even more interesting is hearing about how many bobbins workers turned out each day and how the workers boring holes in the spools would work up to their waists in wood shavings. You also hear how the size and shape of the spools indicated what kind of threads would be spun on them and how the phrase “Happy Hour” had a place in the bobbin mill workplace. The video is a must-watch.

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