Weaver's Delight Restoration - The Wood Is Almost Done

I took a couple photos of the remaining dirty wooden parts still left to sand and varnish.  The bunch above doesn't look like too many, but then add all the flyshuttle parts,

and now there are a whole lot.  I needed to sand off any of the old finish that still remained.  It was a perfect day to be outside all day.  I set up a couple saw horses in the shade, and sanded most of the day.

Our daughter Becky came over in the afternoon, so we had a pleasant visit, while we both got a lot accomplished.  While I worked on the loom, she wound three balls of fine linen, and then warped her inkle loom in preparation for some tablet weaving for a costume that needs trim.  I can't wait to see how it looks with the linen.

Eleven pieces after the first coat of varnish.  They will all get at least two coats, so as long as the weather holds, and it isn't too humid, I should have the rest of the varnishing done this weekend.

Eight of the smaller pieces with the first coat of varnish.

The loom is stripped down, and completely varnished.  There are a few pieces that still need another coat, but it looks so nice.

I never even got a chance to touch the hardware soaking in the vinegar.  It's going to have to wait for scrubbing till at least tomorrow evening, or maybe Saturday.

I'm tired!  Off to the shower to get this grubby person clean, and then to bed.  

Weaver's Delight Restoration- Will It Ever Be Done?

Here is a close-up of the shafts and wire heddles, before I started working on them.  The bars that hold the heddles were quite rusty, and so were the wire heddles.  Sue Harvey suggested that I pitch the heddles and purchase new inserted eye heddles.  After cleaning one batch of the wire ones, I decided her idea was a good one.  I had a box of steel heddles in the studio, so I got them out, and they were the correct size.  They aren't inserted eye style, but are still better than the rusty wire.

This is half of the heddles, with one bunch strung together with garbage bag ties to keep them in order.  I oiled the ends of each bunch, to help them slide on the bars easily, and to protect them from developing rust.

The heddle bars were sanded with 150 & 100 grit sandpaper, followed by black sandpaper, used wet.  It did a good job as long as I kept hosing the rust off.  They were oiled to keep rust from forming, and to help the heddles slide smoothly.

 When lining up loose heddles, it is important to have the eyes all aiming in the same direction.  Each side of the eye is curved slightly in opposite directions.  Three in this photo and nested together nicely, and the fourth one is the wrong way.  I just laid them on the table, and threaded them on the garbage bag ties as I sorted them.

When I had a group ready, I slid the heddle bars through the end holes before removing the garbage bag ties.

I couldn't find three of the screws for the harness brackets, so I used some that I brought home from work.  They were removed from someone in surgery, and sterilized, but the patient didn't want them.  They were a perfect fit, and they won't rust!

 While attaching the iron hardware to the bottom of the shafts, a couple of the screw holes were too large.  The remedy I use is to get some glue on a toothpick, poke it in the hole, and break it off.

Let the glue dry a bit before inserting the screw.  One or two pieces of toothpick are usually enough to make a smaller hole.

Shafts 1-4 are completed and ready to install.  I'm setting them aside, and moving on.

The next project is to clean the rest of the rusty nuts and bolts that my wonderful husband Bob helped remove tonight. I will clean, paint, and oil them, and sand and varnish the remaining wood parts, while everything is apart.

There are lots of parts soaking in vinegar, ready for cleaning in the morning.  I'll be smelling like a pickle tomorrow!

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!

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.

Good-bye Sisty

My sister Janet died last week, unexpectedly, and I am missing her.  This is a picture of her about 3 years ago with our daughters Carolyn, Rachel, and Becky.  Her memorial service was Tuesday, and it was very touching how all of her children pulled together to do the service.  I've never used so many tissues at a funeral, and I wasn't the only one.  I think she would have laughed about how we were passing the Kleenex box around.  It would have reminded her of a sad movie we went to years ago when we did that.  She had such a great sense of humor, and I think I will miss that the most.  Whenever we talked on the phone, we always ended up laughing about something that happened when we were younger.

Sisty was quite creative, and always made thoughtful gifts for her family.  Her sister-in-law brought Annie Bear to the memorial.  It was something she had received from Janet years ago, along with a couple dolls she made.  I especially like the photo of Sisty, behind the bear. We certainly shared a love of Teddy bears!

It's been so long since I saw her children, and I don't know if I ever saw then all together, so it was nice to get a few photos.  Here they all are with Poppop Windy (our dad).

We called each other Sisty, which is short for Sisty Ugler.  We started that after hearing a funny story, where someone twisted the words to Cinderella around. The sisty uglers were the ugly stepsisters of Rellacinder. 

I guess I could keep telling stories, but work will come early tomorrow.  I need to get to bed.  I miss you Sisty!  Rest in peace.

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!

Day Two Weaver's Delight Restoration

This is my loom number.  I found out the following information about the loom from Leslie, at Riverside Loomworks, in Eaton Rapids, MI:  it left the factory Nov. 15, 1949, on its way to Lydia Olson in Cokato, Minn. The next owner was Clifford Smorstad, in Decorah, Iowa. No date on that. And any later changes either weren’t reported back to the factory or occurred after the company went out of business (early 1980s). The loom cost $137.50 new. 

The top back beam and the warp beam were removed from the loom before I brought it home, so I could get it in the van.  The metal parts on the blanket looked like someone had started restoring the loom, but that is as far as they got.  

There was a little rust on the metal, so I removed them, brushed the rust off, primed and painted them, along with the cams and a couple braces.

Poking the bolts into an old piece of styrofoam made it easier to paint the heads. 



 

Starting the final color.  It isn't quite as dark as originally on the loom, but it's close.

The black trim had faded quite a bit, and was flaking off, so I cleaned the dirt off, let it dry, and started painting it.  I still have more to do on the other side of the loom.

This is big, with heavy cast iron ends that have a fair amount of rust.  All of the dowels are there, some replaced by the previous owner, so all they need is a little sanding to smooth them out a little.

Bob helped me remove the heavy cast iron.  I haven't cleaned either of these parts, but did start on the bolts.

I got out my trusty staple remover, but hardly needed them.  The staples were so rusty, they just fell apart with a little pull.  I got all of them out, checked for metal ends still sticking out, and either pulled them out, or pounded then in, so I don't scratch myself with something rusty.

The straps were dirty with years of dust, and the loop ends were quite rusty.  I washed the straps, and now have the rusty ends soaking in vinegar to try and remove rust.  I probably shouldn't have started that tonight, because I need to do some scrubbing on them, and I'm too tired.  I may chance leaving them overnight, and take care of them after work tomorrow.

That's it for today!

Weaver's Delight Loom Restoration

Since I was last on here, I purchased an old Weaver's Delight loom, made by the Newcomb Loom Co.  I had to wait over a month to get enough time off work to make the trip to Minnesota to pick it up.  This is a view from the side and back, taken by the seller.

This is a view from the front.  It is in pretty good shape, so hopefully the restoration will not take a long time.  I spent today laying the parts out in the garage, getting some before photos, and going the the hardware for navel jelly, and a wire brush for removing rust, kerosene for cleaning gunk off the cast iron parts, and something to clean the wood.

I thought I would start by trying the navel jelly on the rusty heddles.  It worked pretty well on most of them, although there were a few that were pretty rusty.  I may be throwing some of them out.  I coated the bunch with the jelly, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and let them sit while I washed windows and screens inside and outside the studio.  When I came back to the parts, I rinsed the jelly off, and then used my wire brush to remove a little more rust.  Once they were as clean as I could get them, I put them on cookie trays in the oven (on low) for a while to dry them.

This is about half of the heddles.  The rest of them are still on the shafts.  I also tried the navel jelly on the most rusted cam, and the nuts, bolts, and washers that held on the top part of the beater bar.  They cleaned up beautifully. 

The cam will get a coat of Rustoleum to help prevent rust in the future, and everything else will get a light coat of machine oil, also to help prevent rust.

There will be more pictures to come, as I continue with the restoration.