A couple of inquiries about logy bearings made us realize that some owners may not know that the bearings in the Bosworth Book and Attache Charkhas are permanently lubricated and permanently sealed. Unlike the Indian charkhas, which do require frequent oiling, our Bosworth Charkhas do not.

Oiling them will have no positive effect, and will eventually gum up the works of your charkha. Two charkhas have been returned to us for bearing replacement because they were oiled.

Our instructions read:

All bearings are teflon, nylon or sealed ball bearings and need no additional special care. The accelerator wheel and spindle mount are sealed permanently lubricated ball bearings and SHOULD NOT (emphasis ours) be oiled. You may oil the main wheel bearing and the knob bearing if you wish.

Two excellent videos on charkha spinning (Elaine Benfatto’s and Eileen Hallman’s) both talk about oiling the charkha frequently while spinning. These comments are directed towards Indian charkha users, NOT to Bosworth Charkha users. If you are using an Indian charkha, please do follow Elaine and Eileen’s very good advice! If you are using a Bosworth charkha, please (with apologies to Elaine and Eileen!) do NOT oil the bearings!   

You may find that cotton lint builds up under the main wheel. Just unscrew the main wheel(noting the assembly), remove the lint and screw the main wheel back into place.