I’ve been stalking online spinning groups, reading others’ questions and the answers given. On a post about drive bands on spinning wheels, I read a discussion on cotton versus hemp bands and adjusting the tension, and in that discussion someone causally mentioned stretchy drive bands. Hm? What an intriguing idea. I dug through my stash and found some stretchy cord usually used for jewelry. Only the largest diameter (1.5mm) was still in decent condition, the rest had dry rotted and was brittle. Taking the warning for the long term stability of rubber, I tossed the useless bits and used the thicker cord for my bicycle spinning wheel.

I had been having trouble with the cotton cord drive band slipping, even with a couple coats of beeswax. So I removed it and tried the clear rubber cord with surgeon’s knot. While I was experimenting, I also wrapped a couple tiny rubber bands around the spindle’s hub to give some grip. It took a couple tries to get the tension right, but then everything worked even better! Hurray!