Medieval spindle stick

Medieval spindle stick made from acacia wood.

Here you can buy a medieval spindle stick for weaving with a hand spindle made of acacia wood.

Historical illustrations from the Middle Ages served as a model for this medieval spindle stick. The spindle stick is made from carefully polished acacia wood and is tapered. There is a notch for the thread at the upper end.

The spindle whorl is attached to the spindle stick from below, as was customary in the Middle Ages. Historical shapes made of bone, antler, clay or glass are suitable as spindle whorls. In the Middle Ages, conical, flat-cylindrical and round spindle whorls were particularly common.

The spindle stick measures approx. 25 x 1.2 cm

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The earliest evidence of hand spindles dates back to around 6000 B.C. From the Neolithic Age to the High Middle Ages, spinning was done exclusively with a hand spindle, as the first primitive hand spinning wheels did not appear until the 13th century.

There are a few differences between the hand spindle spinning that is common today and the medieval version. Unlike most modern spindles, the spindle stick of medieval models was not firmly attached to the whorl.

In the Middle Ages, the spindle whorl was usually attached to the tapered spindle stick from below. The advantage of this was that as the amount of yarn on the spindle increased, the weight could simply be reduced by using a smaller spindle whorl or, if the spindle was full, the whorl could be removed completely.