Restoring the Weaver's Delight

I'm going to try to move things from the pages to the posts; we'll see how it does.

In early June 2016 my husband and I got a call from a friend notifying us that she had gotten a post on the Bisbee Fiber Art Guiild that two Newcomb Looms Weaver's Delight looms were for sale in Cochise County, Arizona, where we live. She asked us if we wanted to follow up on this, as my husband has been taking weaving lessons and wants his own loom to weave blankets on.

Knowing next to nothing about Newcomb Looms, and specifically Weaver's Delight looms, we did some research and got pictures and a source for supplies. (linkies to follow). We said, "Yes, we'd like to see it," and off to Benson AZ we went to meet a very nice couple who were antique dealers and were moving to Michigan. The looms were still in the back of the trailer from when they had bought them. Our friends came with us (she's a master weaver) and took one look and said, "Buy these looms, we'll help you restore them, they're historically interesting and this is a great price."

So we did.

The looms were delivered that day and put in our friends' workshop. There are two looms which are the restoration project. One is assembled and still had the warp and weaving on it, the other is disassembled. Dates are 1938 and 1942, and fortunately for us all paperwork, including the name of the original owner and the loom registration numbers, is still in good shape.

This is the loom when we unloaded it. It has a partial project of a rag rug, and a warp. Rodents and time had damaged the warp and the rug, so we cut the warp. In the process, I cut off 3 of the tie on straps.

The rag rug (WIP). It's been saved for historic and possible sentimental value.

More of the rug, the harnesses, and the beater. The padding on the beater has since been replaced with some lovely dark leather instead of tape.

Manufacturer's information.

A wider picture of the loom. One of the cone loaders is in the back left. We got 2 of them, one is in good shape but the other needs work.

The loom came with a lot of stuff. It has obviously been a production loom, used by a person who wove a lot of rag rugs. There were 6 crates of parts and pieces, and many accessories, such as tubes for the flying shuttle, rag rug fabric strips, a device to fill the tubes with the rag rugs, racks, and so forth.

15 June 2016:

We photographed the loom, cut off the old warp (in the process I cut two of the tie on straps by accident, and assessed the condition of the loom. We saw immediately that it needed a good cleaning, a new canvas apron,  and some of the dowels on the back beam assembly had fallen out, but otherwise it appeared to be in good shape. We inventoried the 6 crates of parts/pieces and got the following:

Crate #1:
Bundles of heddles
6 metal Bobbin cases (solid)
2 metal bobbin cases (pierced)
2 wooden bobbins (1 split in need of repair)
1 metal tube
2 metal A brackets (green, and probably part of the disassembled loom)
1 green metal activator
1 wooden load wheel for cone loader (we got 2 of the cone loaders which are apparently hard to find)
2 leather shuttle pads for the flying shuttle (bad shape, need replacing)

Crate #2
Green metal cams for the disassembled loom
2 large ratchet pawls, 1 #55, 1 unnumbered
1 small ratchet pawl
Miscellaneous parts and pieces for assembling disassembled loom (not sure what some of them are right now)
Leather strap needs replacement
1 Pirn
1 metal strap

Crate #3
7 usable Pirns
46 useful metal tubes for the flying shuttle (these are usually loaded with rag strips)
1 broken pirn
1 handle for the tube loader
1 cone for the cone loader (broken)

Other crates contained more parts for the disassembled loom.

The crates. Most of the center bottom crate contents were not usable due to time and exposure to elements.

Top crate is parts to the disassembled loom

We did keep the tube in this crate.

Tubes, some with fabric strips. Most of the fabric strips had to go in the trash.  

The inner workings of the loom

Harnesses. Heddles are in surprisingly good shape.

Contents of Crate #1

More contents of crate #1

Leather bumper pads for flying shuttle and a bundle of heddles

Parts of the disassembled loom.

Parts of the disassembled loom

Cams

Parts of the disassembled loom

Parts of the disassembled loom - the leather straps are not usable and need to be replaced. We have not tackled cleaning any of these parts/pieces.

More parts - cams, cogs, etc.

After a break due to company and an anniversary trip, we are back at it on 12 July. Our friend's husband made a new canvas apron for the loom and replaced the old one.

We took the harnesses off, washed the loom with Murphy's Oil Soap and dried it as we went, using scrub brush and rags, Huge difference! The wood is beginning to glow with a slight patina due to care and we are able to see it as it must have been in its former state when it was cared for and used.

13 July 2016: we used a mix of 50/50 linseed oil and mineral spirits on all the wood pieces and have come up with a list of parts we can get at the local hard ware store:

3/8" dowels
naval jelly (remove rust from the reed)

Parts we'll probably have to go the restoration business for are:

3 tie on straps with garter attachments (reminds me of my first garter belt and stockings when I was a kid)
Leather straps to replace the ones that tie the flying shuttle device to the beater and the springs
Leather shuttle rebound pads.

New canvas apron!!!

A clean loom is a happy loom. We removed the harnesses and cleaned the interior workings.

Picture of the cams, the back beam, and the front canvas apron

Leather strap which is used by the flying shuttle/beater assembly. Needs to be replaced. I suspect not original and looks like it was part of a harness, as it is not the same length on both sides.

clothes line and leather strap attached to spring for the flying shuttle assembly

More of the clean loom

Damaged back assembly - missing pegs, damaged wood under the screw, but this does not seem to be a show stopper re: use of the loom. Several screws have been replaced over the years; ditto carriage bolts and nuts.

Another one of the canvas apron.

Clean cams and inner workings. The metal plate is obviously a replacement.