How I got the Merlin Tree Quebec Wheel

I first spotted this wheel at Black Sheep Gathering some years back.  Being as they are made in Vermont, I had never expected to cross paths with one of them out here on the west coast.  It was for sale.  I was devastated because it was so unique and so beautiful and, since I had just purchased a Lennox Fiona, I had no money left to buy her. 

Well, just because I could not buy her didn’t mean that I could not take her for a test spin.  I watched for a time and the woman attempting to spin on her simply could not get her going - hmmm....either she could not handle the wheel (these CPW’s are FAST!)  or something was not set up right.  Word of mouth had it that these wheels were good spinners so long story short, I asked to try it, made a few adjustments, and had a great test spin.  Gave the seller some pointers in spinning on CPWs so she could hopefully find an interested buyer and left with regrets but then as my husband likes to tell me “You can’t have everything”.

Jump forward one year.  Black Sheep Gathering in fast approaching when an interesting e-mail pops up on one of the spinning lists.  The e-mail asks if there is anyone going to Black Sheep who is willing to repossess a Merlin Tree wheel and either buy it at a discount or ship it back to the maker.  Well now that was too good of an opportunity to pass up.  And the price was right.

What happened was that some folks from the west coast apparently made a trip back east to Vermont and saw the wheel which is painted with a very unique design of a shepherd and sheep and convinced the maker that the wheel, due to its paint job, looked like it belonged in the west.  They talked him into taking the wheel with them to sell and then never managed to sell it (because, as I found out they had jacked up the price).  Nor did they ever pay the maker for the wheel.

A little repo work resulted in my getting a nice repro CPW.