Originally Posted by GrannieAnnie
I'll go for the "custom made"!
Besides the whittling of the oak to make the spinning wheel is going to get some of us down Where's Martha Stewart when we need her?
Oh, one more question? Can hubby cut the oak tree for me?
With the buck saw he made in high school shop class?
No need to cut down any oak trees!
A handspinner experienced with a supported spindle can beat a spinning wheel when spinning cotton. All you need for a supported spindle is a piece of wire and a bead to help store rotational energy. A little ceramic or glass dish can help support the spindle but many handspinners working with cotton sit on the ground and just use the ground to support the spindle.
I'm not that skilled with a takli (supported spindle), so I resort to a charkha. Those are the little book to briefcase sized spinning wheels that Ghandi popularised. Again, no need to make one out of an oak tree, a perfectly serviceable one can be made of a cardboard cigar box, a few wheels made of laminated cardboard, wire and string.
Really, though, a charkha is just a crutch for those who don't spin enough cotton to gain true fluency in the skills involved. The takli (wire with a bead) is fastest.
Leave your oak tree to provide a pleasant place to sit while you spin the cotton, mind the children, supervise the teenagers and gossip with your friends.
The cotton thread needs no big loom to be woven. A backtrap loom requires a couple pieces of wood that can be carved down from sticks and a place to tie the end of the warp. The other end of the warp is tied to or around your own waist. It's very portable and can produce intricately woven pieces up to about 15 inches wide.
If the backstrap loom isn't producing wide enough yardage, then a warp weighted loom will do the trick. A warp weighted loom can be made of sticks and stones (I'm not joking) and produce yardage about 36 inches wide with one weaver or 60 inches wide with two or 96 inches wide with three.
Needles need not be forged of steel, they can also be made from bone (careful not to inhale any bone dust while making it, though).