My Cranbrook Loom is Getting Four More Shafts

About a year and a half ago, my daughter Carolyn and I took a trip down to Midland, Michigan to pick up an old four shaft Bexell Cranbrook countermarche loom. When we got it home and put together, I realized I could expand it to eight shafts, which means more design options for weaving.

Bob and I went and got some hardwood and he cut all the new parts. We have been working on them for quite some time, while weaving on some other four shaft projects on the loom. Yesterday, the twelve yard rug warp was completed, so it is now time to get serious about the expansion.

Hanging in the basement workshop after varnishing them are the new shaft bars, and upper and lower lamms. The jacks are on the box on the workbench.

The treadles still needed some cutting, so Bob worked on that today.

One of the original treadles is on top of one of the new ones. Bob still needs to cut away a little bit of the new ones and cut some grooves for the treadle locking mechanism.

Unfortunately, the raw wood had some water drip off the roof onto them, so they will need to dry a while before I can put some finish on them.

The locking grooves on the originals look like this.

Bob had to chisel them into the new ones. I went down to the basement and checked them and can  now sand the spots that got wet. The varnishing will have to wait for another day.

These are all maple, like the originals. I'm really proud of the nice job Bob does on them. It isn't as easy working on hardwood as it is making something with a soft wood like pine.

The treadles hang at the back of the loom and are separated by the upright boards to the right of the chains. This photo is from the left side of the loom.

This is what the separators look like from the front of the loom. Towards the bottoms of them are notches, allowing the treadle to swing to one side and lock in the down position.

It is a nice feature for beginning weavers so they don't lose their place in weaving a pattern, and also for children, because it is hard for a small person to hold a treadle down and throw a shuttle at the same time. It also allows any weaver to weave while standing.

Shaft bars, lamms, and jacks are on the dining room table with a coat of paste wax drying, getting ready for buffing. I did get them buffed and they are all ready for installing.

This is a view of the loom showing the jacks at the top of the loom and the chains that connect to the shafts. The gap is where the new ones go. After I get some measurements, I will need to go to the hardware store and purchase the chain.

I will also need chains between the lamms and the treadles. I will price it out and then research a little to see if I could use a cording called Texsolv instead. A lot will depend on the amount of weight the cording can take.

That is all for today. I'm sure I have several more days before the treadles will be done and everything put together. I will be ready to put a new warp on the loom soon though.

Leicester Dryad Countermarche Loom Repaired

A while ago, my friend Erin gave me her first loom when she decided to purchase a new one. Since she didn't have room for two, her Leicester Dryad countermarche loom moved to my studio.

My friend Marcia comes to my open studio every Tuesday, and I told her I would give her the loom if she wanted to help me get it working again. We spent last week working on putting Texsolv onto the loom, since I had stripped off all the cording.

Marcia purchased metal rod for the front and back aprons, so one of the first things we did was to replace the thin dowel in the apron hems.

We got all the Texsolv cording measured and installed. In order to get everything functioning and tied up correctly, we needed a warp on the loom. We made a quick one yard test warp. 

Countermarche and counterbalance looms need to be tied up from the top down after a warp is wound on the loom and threaded.

We tied a basic four shaft, six treadle tie-up and Marcia played around with the treadling. Her sample is quite colorful.

Our biggest job was ahead of us. There are two hinges on the loom. This one pictured is ok, but the one on the other side was not secure because a big chunk of the wood cracked at the screw holes and one of the screws was missing.

We had to unscrew the top three screws on both hinges so we could access the underside of the board to make the repairs.

The break goes through all three screw holes, with the piece completely broken off at the left hand hole.

We raided Bob's workshop for drill bits, wood glue, drywall screws and various other tools plus toothpicks from the kitchen.

This is the underside of the side board showing the broken piece. I pre-drilled three holes between the three hinge screw holes and countersunk the holes. The drywall screws worked well to draw the glued broken piece up tight.

Marcia finished attaching the piece.

As badly broken as it was, the repair looks pretty good.

We added toothpicks and glue, broken off in the screw holes, to give a better grip for the hinge screws. They went in without any problems.

Another problem we needed to take care of was to drill two more holes in the treadles. The tie-up cords were not able to connect directly under the lamms. They were pulling toward the front of the loom, making the shafts hit the beater and the lamms bump each other. I'm not sure why the loom was made that way, but the two additional holes made everything line up correctly.

We used pointed dowels through the correct holes in the Texsolv cord. One is visible under the treadle. We may need to do some slight adjustments once Marcia winds her next warp. We couldn't test our changes since we needed to remove the remainder of the warp to do the repairs.

The tie-up looks pretty good. This is taken from the side, showing the upper and lower lamms and the treadles.

This is the connecting point for the upper and lower lamms.

The last thing we fixed was the missing beater stop peg. Bob had some dowel the correct size in the workshop, so it was a quick fix, with Marcia doing a little sanding until it fit in the hole firmly.

All in all, I think we make a good team working on repairs.

Next week's project will be having Marcia wind a warp for her first handwoven dishtowels.