Thursday, October 4, 2012

Tension Box for Sectional Warping

My first experience using a tension box was when Bob and I wound my first warp onto the restored Weaver's Delight loom.  I didn't own one, since none of my other looms have sectional beams, so I borrowed a homemade one from a friend. 

Now, I have a whole box of rug warp, with lots of colors, and am ready to wind on my second warp.  I gave the tension box back to my friend after putting the first warp onto the loom, so I showed Bob what I needed. 

He drew up some plans, and when I came home from work this afternoon, he had most of it completed.

I found a wire coat hanger and made the two wire gates to keep the yarn from popping out of the tops of the open reeds.

Bob finished it after school.  He picked up some 1" dowel at Ace, and some wing-nuts, cut the four tension dowels and added the posts for the wing-nuts to tighten them.


I varnished the dowels, and have them drying on the box.  A light sanding of them tomorrow with super fine sandpaper, and it should be ready to try.  Now I need to decide what I am going to weave.  I did Chicken Tracks for the last run of rugs, so I will try something different this time.

13 comments:

  1. wow your husband is awesome! this whole restoration has been great to witness. thank you for such a lovey documentation. what a nice job on the tension box.my tension box is basically the same except there are two pieces of wood attached on the bottom perpendicularly. the purpose of this is to straddle the back beam so the tension box is stable.looking forward to seeing your new tool in action!

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  2. Thanks Heather and Deanna. Bob is pretty awesome!

    The tension box can't clamp to the back beam, since it is round. I will clamp it on a small table I have, and will add some weight on the shelf under the table. It was pretty stable when I wound the first warp.

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  3. YOU-GUYS are ' ONE-GREAT-TEAM ", able to do remarkably @ any task you chose and we are ' REALLY-HAPPY-FOR-Y'ALL ' ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Send'n some pix for your consideration ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

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  4. Awesome! Would your husband be willing to make one of these to sell????

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  5. I just bought a loom in your area. We just completed the set up and I am online shopping for a tension box and spool rack. I stumbled upon your blog in my search and will have to start following !!

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  6. Where did you get the open reeds for your tension box? I have been looking for a used one (just rescued a floor loom with a sectional beam and need a tension box), but this looks like something my husband and I could make. Thanks! It looks great!

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    1. Caryn, search for tension box comb and sources will come up. They run between $6.50 and $8 as of July, 2020.

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  7. Thank you for sharing your tips and experiences. I want try to build a tension box. How long did Bob cut the dowels? And how do you attach it to the back beam?

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    1. Bob cut them so they could extend a bit past the reeds in the box. You don’t want your warp falling off of them.

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  8. Thank you — that makes sense. How did you attach the tension box to the back beam?

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    1. I attach my box to a small weighted table because I am unable to attach it to the round back beam on my loom.

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  9. Looking for a sectional warp tension box. Do you sell them? I like the one pictured on you web site.

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