Meet Evangeline

A friend sent me a link to a 40" Macomber loom in Louisiana.

It had six harnesses and eight treadles with a sectional beam.

The photos posted in the ad also indicated there were a number of accessories included in the "package."

The price was good, really good.

I contacted the seller and expressed an interest, but the seller had sold a smaller loom to someone in Dallas who told him he was not asking enough for the Macomber. 

As such, when I spoke to him, he was non-committal about selling it for the price for which he had advertised. 

That was annoying.

He put me off for a few days until he could decide what he wanted to do. 

My attitude was basically, whatever. I did not need the loom, as I have three Macombers, but I had been passively looking for a 40".

In the back of my mind, I have been thinking at some point the Beast at 56" may be too much for me; however, I hate to lose the width it gives me for wider projects and did not want to be confined to a 32" wide loom, my next largest behind the Beast, even though I know how to weave double-width.

The same friend who forwarded the ad for the loom used to have a Gilmore about the same size of the Beast. She has knee issues and while she loved the loom, it was difficult for her to treadle because of the front-hinged treadles. 

When she came over to play with looms, she tested the Beast with his back-hinged treadles, as well as my smaller 32" and 24" Macombers. She indicated even the Beast was much easier to treadle than her Gilmore had been. 

Thus, my concerns about not being able to use the Beast in my senior years may be overblown.

In any event, the seller was located 2.5 hours from my mother's place in Louisiana. 

Make no mistake, my mom's house is about six hours from mine, which made the loom about 8.5 hours from home; however, it provided a good opportunity to check on my mom and spend a little time with her. 

So, I left home before dawn Saturday morning and drove to Louisiana. About noon, I picked mom up at her house, and she rode over to the seller's house to keep me company (and, according to her, to sit in the truck and call the police, if they tried to rob me, which they did not).

The loom is in excellent shape, although it has not been used since the seller's mother passed in 1984. 

She is dirty and needs a good bit of TLC.

In the photo above, I removed her harnesses for travel. They are all in the dining table at the moment.

I am delighted with the sectional beam, although it has a ratchet brake. 

With six harnesses, I absolutely intend to purchase two more Ad-A-Harness units from Macomber Looms to bring it up to eight harnesses and ten treadles. 

It is missing a proper lamm depressor. It has the little wooden peg, but I prefer the one that frees up my hands to attach the treadle hooks. 

The apron on the breast beam needs to be replaced, but I know how to make one. 

The ratchet brake will absolutely be switched out for a tension bake. This is totally a personal preference, and I am firmly in the friction/tension brake camp.

While each of my other Macombers has a beam crank that I could use on this one, Evangeline has apparently lost hers. As I may ultimately move this one (or one of the others) along, I think it is important for each loom to operate and stand alone. I will purchase a crank for it. 

Each of my other Macs has both a plain beam and a sectional beam; however, I am not certain it is necessary to outfit this one with a plain beam, as well. Oddly, I am not inclined to do this, even though this loom comes with a double back beam attachment. 

Evangeline has her original flat heddles, which are not my favorite; however, they appear to be in decent shape. I will eventually replace them with inserted eye heddles, but for the moment, they are functional. 

The big issue with this acquisition is where to put her.

At the moment, the studio is full with three looms, a Glimakra warping mill, and a Sawyer Bee warping square, as well as a large desk for my day job responsibilities. 

My younger daughter is presently in college, but she will graduate in May. Her current apartment is fully furnished. Once she graduates and moves to an unfurnished apartment, there is a bed in the game room, which will move with her. As soon as that happens, the large 36" x 60" desk will move to the game room and voila, I will have room for Evangeline!

In the meantime, she will join the table in the dining room. HA!

I laugh because it is not the first time I have set up looms in the dining room, although I try to refrain from that. 

For those who have been to my home, just overlook the little Lola sitting in one corner of the dining room. She is tiny and does not interfere with the use of the room. 

Plus, she is portable!

Lastly, if anyone is wondering about the name Evangeline, the significance is two-fold: she is from my home state of Louisiana and her name means "bearer of good news." 

For a year like 2020, I will take all the positive karma I can get.

Hope everyone is well and fine.