Spinning Wheel Ratios

When you look at a spinning wheel on this website, or our spinning brochure, you'll see tables that list the wheel's ratios. What are all these numbers?

But first, why do ratios matter? When a spinning wheel has many ratios available, the spinner can easily adjust the amount of twist in a yarn by switching to a different ratio. It's much easier to adjust your spinning wheel than to change how your body uses the wheel. Once we master the basics of spinning, we usually find a happy place where our feet treadle at a certain speed and our hands let go of the yarn in a particular rhythm. It can be hard to change these physical habits—you might want to treadle faster for a particular spinning project, but unless you're thinking about that speed every second, you're likely to fall back to your default speed.

On Schacht wheels, switching ratios involves using a different groove in the whorl, or using a different whorl. The exact numbers of the ratios probably don't matter, unless you can remember that 13:1 means the small groove on the fast whorl, etc. 

Ratios Defined
The drive wheel on your spinning wheel goes around in big circles. As it does so, the drive band turns the flyer and whorl in smaller circles. A single revolution of the drive wheel produces multiple revolutions of the flyer and whorl. Each revolution of the flyer adds twist to the yarn in front of the orifice.

Spinners refer to this relationship as a ratio, usually expressed as XX:1. The varying number at the beginning indicates revolutions of the flyer. The second number is always 1, meaning 1 revolution of the drive wheel. When you see a ratio of 13:1, you know that the flyer will put 13 twists into your drafted fiber for every rotation of the drive wheel. 

Now you can see how the ratio lists can help you adjust your wheel. Thinner yarns typically require more twist than thicker yarns. If you're making a thinner yarn, you want a whorl/groove with a higher number. If you're making a thicker yarn, start with a lower number. If you're spinning yarn that doesn't have enough twist, move the drive band to the small groove on the whorl, or move to a smaller whorl. If your yarn has too much twist—a common problem for beginners—move to the large groove or a larger whorl. You don't have to change anything else! The new drive ratio will increase or decrease the amount of twist in your yarn.

Schacht Ratios

The four wheels Schacht currently produces use the same whorls and flyers, but their drive wheels vary in size. A larger-diameter drive wheel adds more twist per revolution, so spinners will treadle less frequently. 

Flatiron Spinning Ratios

Ladybug Spinning Ratios

Matchless Spinning Ratios

Sidekick Spinning Ratios

Schacht-Reeves Spinning Ratios

Note: Schacht-Reeves wheels, now discontinued, used Schacht-Reeves whorls. The whorls that fit on all other Schacht spinning wheels cannot be used on a Schacht-Reeves wheel.