Long gone are the days of old where women stood on their porch and spun on a Great or Walking wheel with a pointed spindle. The invention of the flyer so many ages ago has essentially eliminated them in modern wheels. Having just come through this research and selection process, I am happy to share my knowledge and experience. First, don't assume that an antique wheel is the only option available. There are still several very popular and current makers of wheels. The price range for a new modern wheel foot driven will vary from around $100 to well over $1000 or higher for custom hand-made wheels. Most beginning spinners, such as myself, do not really need the higher end wheels to start out. Decide what you really desire in a wheel, then set out to find one.
As for deciding to learn spinning, well for me it was a natural offshoot of knitting and crochet. It seemed the next logical step, to learn to make the thread itself. Although no one needs to learn this out of necessity these days, it is certainly a very useful skill to have in your homesteading repertoire.
While it's not recommended for a beginner to start off with an antique wheel, since they often have quirks that may result in a slight retarding of the learning process, you can still choose one if you wish. The most important thing to know when looking at an antique wheel is whether or not it is complete and whole. Many antique wheels will have cracks or chips, you need to know when those will affect the function of the wheel. A crack in the wheel itself would be okay, for instance, as long as it does not through off the balance of the wheel's movement. A chip from the maiden would be okay as long as it was secure and stable in spite of it.
That reminds me, the art of spinning tends to have a language utterly unique for it. You definitely need to learn the lingo! The parts on the wheel include the wheel itself, the treadles (foot peddles) and footmen (piece that connects the treadles to the wheel), the flyer (an arched piece of wood that fits around the bobbin and attaches by a cord to the wheel, this is what actually spins the fiber), the maiden (bracket that holds the flyer), the whorl (round piece where the cord goes, usually found on the flyer), the bobbin (I-shaped piece that horizontally fits into the flyer, the thread is wound onto it by the flyer arms), and finally the mother-of-all (which holds the wheel). With regards to the fiber there is raw (not washed or combed), combed top (uses evil looking Viking or English combs), carded rolags (rolled bits of fluff, usually from hand cards) or batts (usually from a drum carder), and so many more! You may have tog and thel on a double-coated fleece (such as Icelandic fiber). You may have to deal with neps (bit of fiber that bunch up on a spun thread) and noils (short fiber bits). And you can choose to spin woolen or worsted method (an explanation for another post!). All I can say is read, read, read!!
Back to finding a wheel: once you have established your price range and researched the various options (single treadle or double? Scotch or Irish tension or double drive? Saxony or castle, Norwegian or modern?) then you need to decide what is the most important aspects for you. Combine everything and stalk your perfect wheel on e-bay or resort to locating manufacturers and dealers. Fair warning, some of the very best wheels are still not made in the USA. Two of the most popular are made in far away countries. Ashford wheels are of New Zealand origin and Kromski wheels are Polish. These are 2 that offer a wide range of beautiful wheels, have many vendors in the US and appear to be dedicated to educating their customers about their wheels. Both offer production wheels (any wheel greater than 21" in diameter is technically a 'production' wheel, it will move the flyer at a faster rate with minimal treadling required), travel wheels (wheels that will fold together for easy storage/traveling) and many others.
If you are more concerned with cost than aesthetics, the Babe wheels can generally be had for less than $200 and include everything you would need to learn to spin. The Babe wheels are made from PVC and use wheelchair wheels. There is also a fairly new wheel-maker in Texas producing beautiful wheels for extremely reasonable prices. They are the Bluebonnet wheels.
Regardless of the wheel you choose, be sure it is the one you really want. These wheels are an investment or time, money, and energy. You could be spending a significant amount of time looking at it, so make it one that YOU want to look at frequently!
