This time, it’s a 30″ 4 shaft, 6 treadle counterbalance loom. I don’t normally name my equipment, but I received this from a lovely woman named Rita, who bought this loom to learn to weave rugs on over 30 years ago. After a couple of rugs, it was put away. In her honor, I named this loom Rita.
Rita had this loom made for her by a fellow in the Santa Cruz mountains. That is all they remember. The wood appears to be basic pine. Nothing special, but in great shape and aged to a beautiful patina.
Unfortunately, the top cross beam was damaged while taking it apart. I showed it to a friend and a few hours later, I had a new cross beam! I love friends with tools. It will be a different color from the rest of the loom but I can live with that.
I’ll spent the next few months cleaning the loom up and refinishing it before putting it back together. It will likely be fall before I can put a warp on this loom.
The reed is a goner. I’ll be tossing that out. All the ropes/ties need to be replaced. The string heddles are over 30 years old and need to be replaced. I haven’t decided if I will buy Texsolv heddles or make new string heddles. Texsolv would be more expedient but there is something rustic about string heddles. I know I’ll think differently after tying several hundreds of these!