Spindle
[under
construction] In
woodworking, the term, Spindle, has several meanings. In the furniture
field, a spindle is a slender rod, sometimes rounded, but -- in Arts
and Crafts designs -- also square. In its round format, usually
tapering toward each end, as in the Windsor chair. In the
tool
field, a spindle is a rotating rod or arbor; it can be solid or hollow.
A spindle, for example, is used in a drill press—at one end
is
the chuck and at the other is the drive wheel.
One meaning is for the mechanism on
shapers designed to hold shaper cutters securely while the motor
rotates the cutters at speeds that range from 4,500 to 10,000
revolutions per minute. Below, on left, is a spindle for a shaper, but
fitted with an adapter to make a shaper a "router
table".
A
second meaning identifies the "basic elements on the back of a Windsor
chair", that is the slender round pieces of wood that stretch from
"sockets" the Windsor's seat to the "hoop-back". Below the
seat are another set of slender pieces of wood, the "stretchers",
similar to spindles, whose function is to stabilize the
Windsor's legs.
