Weaver's Delight Restoration - Sectional Warp Beam

None of my other looms have a sectional warp beam, so I'm glad I took a lot of photos before taking it apart.

This is straight out of the van after bringing it home from Minnesota.  It was dirty and rusty.  If anyone is going to restore one of these looms, get some orientation pictures so it can be put back together correctly.

This cast iron end is marked N6.  The wooden bar that the straps are stapled to are bolted to that section.

This end of the beam is marked N5.  The other end of the bar with the straps attaches to the N5 section.
 










Another thing to take a photo of is the orientation of the holes on the wooden bars.  They will all be facing the same direction.

Note the bar next to the one with the straps with buckles.  It has a heavy cord stapled to the hole side.  

It needs to be put back together in the right order for the cord to serve it's purpose, which is to hold the strap ends while winding each section. It keeps them from flopping around before each section is filled.  If your loom doesn't have the cord, it is an easy addition to make.

Before removing the straps for cleaning, I marked the center one, so I would know which direction to staple them back on.  They are stapled to the underside of the bar and wrap almost completely around the bar.  If they aren't wrapped around, the staples will tear the twill tape, and the buckle end will not end up where it is supposed to be.  The end of the buckle should be between the bar with the cord, and the one it's stapled to.

Finished N5 end.

Finished N6 end.

It feels good to have a section of the loom done.  Actually I have quite a bit of it done.  Pictures will come in another post.

Weaver's Delight Restoration - Varnishing and Painting

Sore hands again tonight.  My right thumb just doesn't like some of the things I do!  One of them is hand sanding.  These are the shaft end brackets, with the light coating of rust removed, primed, and here with a pretty coat of aluminum gloss paint.

Styrofoam works well to hold screws and bolts for painting.  These are all the screws for attaching the end brackets on the shafts.  Twelve per shaft, so with that many, I will definitely be using my cordless screwdriver.  I have one shaft ready to go, under the styrofoam.  The wood for the other three still needs another coat of varnish, so I will do that tomorrow, if the three grandchildren that will be here give me enough time.

I also got another coat of the green paint on some of the cast iron pieces I showed in the previous post.

The second coat of varnish made a lot of difference in the smoothness of the wood.  I very lightly sanded with black sandpaper after the first coat dried.  After a second coat, I sanded (just barely, with worn out sandpaper) just enough to bump off any dust, and  make the wood smooth.

This is me, starting to attach the washed twill tape strips to one bar of the sectional warping beam with an electric staple gun.

The wood was very hard, so I had to finish driving the staples into it with a hammer.

There is a right and wrong direction to attach the tapes.  Before I removed them from the bar, I made sure to mark which side of it the end of the tape needed to be. Otherwise, the straps won't wrap around the beam correctly, and the buckles on the end of the straps will hit the wood.

After I got them all attached, I wound each one around the bar and tied them down with some thrums (scrap pieces of yarn from a previous weaving project) so they don't get in the way when I assemble the warp beam.

I will show the proper direction for the tapes in a future post, when I assemble the sectional beam.

Bed is calling!