She’s covered in years of grime and old shellac but she is in MINT condition and was obviously waiting for me to find her š Or so I like to think.
Philias Cadorette made spinning wheels in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec from 1922 until the mid 1930’s. He took over his father’s (Michel Cadorette) business.
She spins perfectly and silently and I love her so much! Not that I could easily choose one to get rid of (should that come up) but this lady is definitely a keeper – the nicest spinner of them all.
I’m going to remove the old shellac and do my very best not to remove the makers mark! It’s a little scary, actually.
This is the flyer, so you can see how much lighter the wood will be…
You do beautiful work! How were you able to find out the history of the wheel?
Thank you! I’m a member of an ‘antique wheels group’ and the ‘cpw lovers group’ on ravelry. Many of the members have wheels which help add to the things we know and, as well, there are wonderful people in the group who do a lot of geneology research. One article was found (from a quebec newspaper) which spoke in detail of Michel Cadorette and mentioned when his son took over the business and we know that the cpw era came to an end in the mid 1930’s.
Before removing shellac, you might want to talk with an antique furntiture expert. Have you tried dealing with the grime with Murphy’s oil soap?