Weaver's Friend Shafts and Heddle Repair

This loom only has two shafts, so it would seem like the restoration of these parts should go quickly. That is an erroneous assumption, because there are a lot of small parts that make these two shafts do their job well, and ended up being a two day job. Of course, I was not working on them more than a few minutes at a time.

The cast shaft brackets were removed and shown in my previous post.

The long metal bars fit into a couple brackets that are attached to the loom frame.

The metal heddles on this loom were not in real bad condition.  They had a little surface rust, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

I removed them by threading craft chenille wires through the top and bottom loops while still on the shafts, to keep them in order. For a two shaft rug loom, there were a lot of heddles. I wired them into eight bundles and then pulled the shaft bars out of the shafts.

I started the process of removing the rust on the heddles by soaking them in a tub of vinegar, one bundle at a time.

My energy level was just coming back following my most recent chemo treatment, so this was a good project, taking just a few minutes at a time.

After soaking for a while, I took a scrub brush to the bundle to remove any loose rust and then rinsed them.

I mixed a jar of water and baking soda to give a final neutralizing rinse before blotting on paper towels.

I placed the bundle on a tray in my oven, set at 200 degrees F. to dry.

I just left them in the oven until I was ready for the next bundle, anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours.

After removing them from the oven, I sprayed the bundle with silicone to keep rust from forming again.  They will need to be wiped down well before using them to make sure any dark residue is removed.  I will make sure to not use a white warp for the first run of rugs.

An electric sander was the quickest way to remove the corrosion on the shaft bars.

I almost forgot to sand the edges, the most important surfaces of the bars. The heddles won't slide without them being smooth.

I finished up with a silicone spray.

The wooden frames weren't in too bad of shape.  I started by sanding them just enough to remove any lose finish, but not enough to remove the stain.

I have tried numerous things to spruce up the finish, but found that sanding, followed by wiping well with lacquer thinner gave the best results if the stain was pretty well intact. It helped smooth out the remaining finish and stain.

Once all the loom pieces are prepped, I will finish all the wood with a polyurethane varnish.

Weaver's Delight Problems with the Mechanism Solved

The last couple days, while Bob was at work, I worked on the little thread rack that came with the loom.  As I showed in the last post, the wires were quite rusty.  After taking the staples out that were holding the wires, I pulled them out and coated them with naval jelly.  While that was working on the rust, I cleaned the wood and gave the stand a pretty coat of red paint.

The naval jelly got quite a bit of rust off, but not enough, so I threw the wires into a container and covered them with vinegar.  After they sat soaking overnight, the rest of the rust, except a few small, very stubborn spots, brushed right off.  They got a light coat of oil before sliding them back through the holes.  Hopefully that should keep rust from forming.  I still need to get some wire staples to fasten the wires permanently.

I've heard that the stand tips over readily, so I'm planning on making a couple sandbags to drape over the back legs to keep that from happening.

I was having difficulty getting the mechanical parts of the loom to move after putting it back together.  First, I tried oiling everything I thought could bind up, but that didn't help, even thought it needed to be done. I thought it might be how the two gears were assembled, so I had Bob take a look at it this morning.  An important piece of information, when reassembling the two gears, is to line up the two notches on the gears.  The mechanism will not work if they aren't in the position shown in the photo.

So, we got that part solved, but ran into another problem when we put the plain weave cams (#1 and #2) onto the loom.  When we added the 4 shafts, a couple of them seemed to list to one side, and the mechanism wouldn't work again.  Thinking it may have been the weight of them, we took out the first two shafts.  When we tried moving the beater, the mechanism worked again.  After adding the first two shafts again, we traced the problem to shaft two.

There are two brackets with channels to hold the four shafts.  Look at the photos, and notice the worn spots in the casting where shaft 2 and 3 slide.  The second channel was bad enough that the #2 shaft was binding up in the groove, keeping the mechanism from moving.  I will need to get some brazing done to the channels at the top before using the loom.

Bob has helped me out a lot the last few days, helping to get everything working and trouble shooting when things didn't perform as expected.  Leslie, from Riverside Loomworks, in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, told me I would need cross supports for the sectional beam, so the individual boards wouldn't give when the warp is wound on.  Here is Bob, getting ready to rout the edges of the supports that he made.  It's great to have a handy husband!

This is what his cross pieces look like,

and how it looks when installed.  They are held in place by pressure.

They have to be installed in two pieces, and then bolted.  They divide the beam in thirds.

Without them, the center warp yarns could bow the boards slightly, creating warp tension problems while weaving.  Since there would be less yarn in the center, compared to the outer sections, because of having a shorter distance to go around the beam with each revolution, the outer warp threads would get looser.  These cross pieces should keep that from happening.

Here is an interesting tidbit of information about these two blocks of wood with the shaft going through both of them from the gear to the cams.  On the underside of them, there is a diamond shaped hole cut into each of them, and a round hole drilled through on top.  They are oil holes, making it easier to get oil to a very important spot.

If you have a Weaver's Delight, don't forget to feed it with oil between warps!

I'm still waiting on the brake band.  Without it, I can't weave or wind on warp unless I have help with someone keeping tension on the warp beam.  We are temporarily using rope in place of the picker straps that should be on their way.

Weaver's Delight - Vinegar Soak

Some of the end brackets for the shafts were really coated with rust.  I used naval jelly to remove it on two of them, and it worked well with a bit of scrubbing and sanding.  For the other six, I thought I would try the vinegar method. 

I needed something long enough to submerge them, and found that an old toilet tank cover was just the right size.  Vinegar is definitely the cheapest way to get rust off of metal, but the rust also comes back pretty quickly.

While researching using vinegar, some cautions were mentioned.  First, don't use it on aluminum.  I didn't realize that the brackets were a mix of metals, one of which was aluminum. The aluminum very quickly turned powdery white after the parts were dried, and the other metal quickly got a thin film of rust.

The second caution was to neutralize the vinegar with baking soda in water.  I used that for my final rinse before drying.

To thoroughly dry the parts, I put them in the oven for about an hour at 225 degrees.

I still had to brush them a little bit before painting.  The aluminum part of the brackets also needed sanding with fine black sandpaper to try and remove the white film.

The photo of a sanded and unsanded bracket show the rust developing again, and the white powder on the aluminum part.  I didn't notice the rust developing so quickly after using the naval jelly.

After drying, get the parts painted right away, or if they aren't going be painted, get some light machine oil on them to inhibit the rust.

Here are more cast iron parts that were wire brushed with a drill, and primed and painted.

We think this loom had someone start working on it, because some of the bolts that should have been identical are different lengths, many washers are either missing, or the wrong size, and three of the four identical brackets on the right side of the photo are cast aluminum, and one is cast iron.  I'm not sure which was originally on the loom.

Weaver's Delight Restoration - More Taken Apart

The loom is slowly getting taken apart, mainly to clean rust off most of the cast iron brackets, and to get metal parts out of the way so I can sand and varnish the wood.

Two days ago, I finished painting all the black trim on the wood.  After that dried, I started getting the first coat of varnish on the wood framework.  I will lightly sand that first coat and then add another. 

The wooden bars with the pegs on the sectional beam needed to be cleaned and sanded.  I managed to finish that, and got a coat of varnish on them, also.  I will lightly sand them and get another coat of varnish on them, and then be able to assemble the sectional beam.

The frames to raise and lower the shafts were in pretty good shape, with minimal rust.  I finished removing them from the shafts last night, and used a wire brush on the drill to remove what little rust there was and then painted them tonight.  I finished painting the one side remaining in the photo tonight.

These parts to the shafts aren't going to be fun to clean.  The two that are done were cleaned with navel jelly and a lot of elbow grease.  I'm having to give my right hand and wrist a bit of rest from the sanding.  It was affecting my nerves last night and today.  I need to get my grip back to normal.  Electric sanders and drills speed up the cleaning process, but the vibration isn't too good for my body!  

I took the handle off the beater bar.  It is cast aluminum, and was ugly, so I primed it and painted it hunter green, like the other metal parts.  I think it looks much better.  I'll get a photo of it once I clean up the screws and reattach it.

The breast and back beam rollers are a very rough wood, and no amount of sanding is going to smooth them, so I just put a coat of varnish on them.  Hopefully, light sanding between several coats of varnish will help smooth them out a bit.  I think they rotate, so I don't think smooth is critical.  Obviously the loom came that way, and I'm sure many rugs were made on it through the years.  This is the front of the loom.  Even one coat of varnish has made a difference to the beam.

I still haven't touched the cloth beam, except to remove it from the loom to make it easier to paint the trim below it.  I still need to unwind the apron to see it's condition.  Hopefully it is just dirt that I will have to deal with, rather than replacing it.  Even if it needs replacing, it won't be too big of a deal.  I'm just hoping I don't need to run to the fabric store to purchase canvas and grommets.  It does look pretty dirty!

I like how the wood is starting to look.  This has the black trim finished, and one coat of varnish.  I am done with working on it this week.  We have a happy occasion to celebrate this weekend at the 65th anniversary picnic for Bob's mom and dad.  Next week, we have a sad occasion also, when we go to my sister's funeral.  We just found out about it tonight.  It was unexpected, and I'm sad.

Weaver's Delight Sectional Beam and Reed Restoration

I started my day off by removing the rust from these two large cast iron ends to the sectional beam.  Bob bought me a wire brush that could be put in a drill.  It worked great for these large pieces.  It was quick, and best of all, I didn't have to soak them in vinegar, or coat them with navel jelly.  The blue painter tape on the left one is covering the brake surface.  I'm hoping I didn't get the surface too smooth while removing the rust, since it is supposed to be a bit rough.

I did use fine sandpaper and navel jelly on the reed, and lots of wire brushing by hand.  I still didn't get all of the rust off, but it should be enough for some rugs.  After I wire brushed the jelly for several minutes, I rinsed the reed with water from the hose.  I did it in several sections, because I don't like the navel jelly drying on the metal.  It turns white, and the metal turns black if allowed to dry.  When I was finished, I wrapped the reed in an old towel to dry it as much as I could and then finished with a hairdryer.  I left it in the sunshine so the wrapped strings around the edges could continue to dry.

 The rust is worse on the ends, with some pitting.  I don't think I'm going to fuss with it much more.  I'll weave with it first, and if it harms my warp threads, then I'll think about cleaning it again or replacing it. 

I also did a bit of sanding on two of the bars of the sectional beam, and the top bar of the beater.  There are still two more bars to do for the sectional beam.  They will all get a couple coats of wipe-on polyurethane varnish to protect the wood and to make it a little easier to clean in the future. 

After looking at a couple of my other reeds, I decided to get some cloth tape to cover the edges of the reed.  I bought the 1 1/2" wide stuff and it went on easily.  If the glue gives out eventually, it can be stuck down again with tacky glue.  The stark white is a little glaring, so it might get a bit of spray paint to tone it down.

Bob found a supplier of square head bolts called Blacksmith Bolt and Rivet Supply in Portland, Oregon, so I may replace some of the overly rusty ones. Here is a link:
Blacksmith Bolt and Rivet Supply
We thought the cost of the 5/16"-18x2 1/2" bolts, at $.27 each with a minimum order of 10 was quite reasonable.  They have a black oxide coating, so they won't be bright and shiny.
Bedtime.  My thumb, arms and shoulders are sore and tired.

Weaver's Delight Renovation--Straps

My long weekend was over last night.  Today was a long day at work, so I didn't get too much done on the loom when I got home.

Last night, I started soaking the warp beam straps in straight vinegar.  They have overall style buckles on the ends that were quite rusty, so I left buckles in the vinegar till I got home today.  I still had to use the wire brush to get the rust off, but it was easier and a lot more came off than with just elbow grease.  One precaution to take if using vinegar, is to rinse it well, and then use a baking soda and water rinse to neutralize the vinegar.

Here are all 18 straps on my drying rack after being washed, and the rust removed.  I actually think I will be able to use them.  The straps were in good shape, except for being dirty.  Once the straps are very dry, I will get some lubricant on the buckles to help prevent rust.

I also oiled up all the screws, bolts, and nuts that were painted.  I'm calling it a day!