Less Than Perfect!

This is my 8 harness, Jack type loom, Kathryn.  I have had her for well over 2 years, I haven't really done much on her because of a couple of problems that this loom presents to me each and every time I put a project on her.

A few of them are minor and can be overlooked, such as there not being a handle of any sort to wind the warp onto the back beam, you have to use your hands on the slats and roll it on,  and the fact that the brake system doesn't hold, so that I have to put a 12 lb. weight on the front foot release to keep it from advancing ever so slightly each time I beat.  ( Though with the repweave placemats and runners I did that was a plus, all I had to do was advance on the front end frequently, and it was like an auto advancing warp!)

The others are more problematic,  Kathryn is clangy and bangy.   She has all metal parts and just makes so much racket that you cannot hear yourself think!  With the moves she has been put thru some of these metal parts, particularly the metal pull bars have been bent a little, and have proven themselves to be impossible to adjust in any way.  With all that going on the shed that I am presented with is terrible!  I have noticed it most recently with this fine bamboo/Rayon scarf warp I have on there now.

I fight my way thru each and every pic!


  I made some adjustments recently to the shed of my counterbalance loom, and I gained great results.  So  I have set about seeing what can be done to rectify this looms shed hangups!

Last week before the Flu took over at our house, I began replacing the bent metal pull bars with texsolv.  I got 2 harnesses done and then had to stop because I had run out of the arrow clips. 

You can see that the 2 harnesses I have done are about 1/2 inch above the other harnesses.  I have no idea if this is a good thing or not!  All I know is that I want to be able to adjust the harnesses to get a decent shed and that was impossible with the system I had.

 Later on this week I should be receiving the clips I ordered and I will post an update.  My hope is that this will reduce the noise and improve the shed, and in doing so will make this loom much more fun to weave on.  ( I have thought about replacing the whole system with a more modern pulley system if this doesn't help!)

There is one more thing I would like to do to this loom, and that is to somehow take advantage of the possibility of an overhead beater.  I think that I will have to invert the beater that is now on the loom, and drill some new holes for a metal rod to go thru, at a good height, so that the shed is positioned correctly.  I will have to do some documenting of  different overhead systems to see what I can do with what I have to make a workable, pleasant to use, loom.  I welcome any suggestions on this topic.

Next week I will be back at the looms, barn is basically done and the flu is slowly subsiding.
Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina