Hi everyone,

We've been at it again. We replaced the tie on straps I managed to cut by accident while taking off the old project. I used sturdy cotton twill webbing I'd bought at JoAnn's. We found the cut ends of the straps and removed the garter clip looking tie ons,  the straps using carpet tacks, and moved the never used straps on the very end of the beam to replace the cut straps. We now have a full complement of tie on straps for the back beam and a new front apron for the front beam.

Tie on Straps

Old carpet tacks have been replaced

 We also started to take a look at some of the other unique things that the loom has, to include a chain which has replaced the cord which runs under the loom to provide some stability for the beater.

Chain instead of cord. Chain looks fairly new, but placement is of concern as it seems as if it will rub the wood on the side. We will replace it with a cord or put a piece of plastic under the wood to protect it.

 I cleaned the reed using naval jelly, wire brush, water, and scouring pads (Brillo pads). It's still got some rust on it but it's a lot cleaner.

A clean(ish) reed

 In addition to that, we replaced the missing pegs on the back beam with 3/8" dowels cut into appropriate length. Lee had a tool which would put a slightly tapered end on the peg, and used soap and muscle to get them into place. The back beam is now ready for use. We still need some rubber bands for the shuttle wings, and I'm going to order new picker straps and boot heels - two sets as the original leather from both the assembled loom and disassembled loom is shot.

Original picker strap

Original picker strap tie up

Original picker strap tie up R side

As we've been "exploring" the loom, we found out that the picker straps did not go through the picker strap slots in the loom. There's probably a reason for this, but we don't know what it is.

We hope to tackle the cone loader and some of the shuttles and bobbins, and maybe load a cone or two just to try out the cone loader. It seems like a pretty interesting piece of gear. One of them is assembled and one is not. Fortunately, we've got lots of tube and shuttles to play with, as well as two big bags of fabric strips, many of them already sewn together.

Cone loader - one of two

I'm also going to be photographing and documenting the paperwork we got with the loom, and what we know about it in our next post.