This project of refurbishing a old loom took much longer than I anticipated. I had estimated it would take a month, in fact it was more like three or four. And I was lucky; although the loom was dirty and rusty, all the pieces were there (excepting a few nuts and bolts which were easily replaced) and all the parts were usable. If I had needed to replace anything significant I’m not sure how I would have gone about doing that.
By far the most time consuming part of the process was getting rid of rust. I learned more about removing rust than I knew there was to know. Thank goodness for Google! I tried white vinegar and steel wool, Coke and steel wool, naval jelly and steel wool, WD40 and steel wool, and finally electrolysis. For pieces that were not attached to wood or other non-metal pieces the electrolysis was much faster, easier, and cleaner. For pieces bolted to wood WD40 and steel wool worked best. Once the major work of removing rust was done, a quick scrubbing with aluminum foil often helped bring a shine to the metal.
I wasn’t able to salvage all of the rusted metal. Although I was able to clean much of the rust off of the reeds with a combination of electrolysis and scrubbing, I was not able to get all the rust (even after several tries), and I could see and feel that the clean dents had been roughened by the rust. I decided it was best to discard them rather than risk broken threads while weaving.
I’ve been using the loom regularly since I put it together, and it works pretty well. Early on I noticed a tendency for the metal treadle hooks which tie the treadles to the lamms to tangle with each other causing some shafts to rise when they weren’t wanted. These metal pieces are thin rods with a hook at one end that hooks onto an eyebolt on the lamm. The end of the rod opposite from the hook is bent at a right angle so the end can catch under the treadle. The right angle bend on some rods protrudes to the left side of the hook, on others to the right side. I realized that it is best to alternate the direction of the right angle bend on a treadle, especially when that treadle is tied up to several lamms, to prevent tangling.
Treadle hooks tying the treadles to the lamms.
There is one issue that I still haven’t resolved. The warp beam brake is a rope that passes around a drum on the end of the beam. The rope is attached to the frame of the loom on one end, and to a long eyebolt at the other. The eyebolt gets inserted into a brake release handle and fastened with a washer and a nut. The threads on the bolt are long enough to allow the brake to be adjusted by tightening or loosening the nut. I adjusted this brake when I started my first project so it was tight and held the warp in place while I was weaving, but as I wove along it began to loosen and slip. I re-adjusted it and it held for a while and began to slip again. I repeated this process until the nut reached the top of the threads on the bolt. When the warp started to slip after that point I didn’t know what to do. I consulted with my husband (who has been very patient about staying out of the repair process until I ask for help), and he suggested adding a bunch of washers between the nut and the handle to effectively extend the length of the threads. That’s working for now. I suspect that the 70 year old rope may need to be replaced, but I find the idea of replacing it intimidating so I am putting it off as long as I can.
Washers extending the ability to tighten the brake
Maple Woods Handweaving 