Old Looms
Occasionally, I receive questions on Instagram about my looms, restoring looms, or weaving in general.
What knowledge I may have acquired about these things is limited to the looms I have encountered and rehabilitated.
Out of all the weaving related equipment I have, the only new items are an electric Leclerc double-end bobbin winder, a SawyerBee Warping Square, and a Macomber bench. Everything else I have has been second hand, typically decades old.
When considering the purchase of an older loom, I have one rule of thumb: The manufacturer must still be operating.
While the act of weaving has not changed much over the last few thousand years, the equipment has. Unless you are accomplished at woodworking and/or metal work, depending on the loom, or know someone who is, it will be difficult to replace a part or piece for a loom whose manufacturer is no longer in business.
It is possible to scavenge parts from a second loom, if you are able to find one of the same brand in the same size; however, those odds are generally long.
Thus far, the only exception to the above rule are Union Looms. These were heavy, sturdy counterbalance looms primarily designed to weave rugs and built between 1880 and 1940, according to that first link. Additional information here, indicates Union Loom Works was incorporated in 1918 and dissolved in 1930; however, a gentleman named Ben continued to build them until 1969. Over 40,000 Union Looms were sold.
A good friend and I went to look at one in Georgetown, Texas a few years ago. The seller was the son whose mother inherited it from a weaving friend. Neither he, nor his mother were weavers. We found it in pieces. To determine whether my friend wanted it, we had to figure out how to put it together and whether we had all the pieces. Fortunately, the simplistic design made that relatively easy to do.
She bought the loom and enjoyed producing rugs, until her loom acquisition outgrew her space.
Now, it belongs to another dear friend. This second friend is building out an old barn to house her fiber studio in the Texas Hill Country.
Union Looms are the exception for me because there are so many of them around, and it is possible to find parts, which have been scavenged. Plus, as far as looms go, they have remained relatively inexpensive, ranging in price (based on condition) from $150 to $600.
The problem I run into when bringing an older, neglected loom back to life is over-upgrading and pouring more money into it than it is legitimately worth.
As an attorney, one of the first things I learned as a first-year law student in Contracts class was a sale required three components: Thing, Price, and Consent.
When I took Economics in college, price was determined by what a willing buyer and a willing seller agreed.
In the various Facebook groups related to weaving, a common question revolves around "How much is my loom worth?" or "I found this loom, is it a good price?"
Frequently, well-meaning commenters toss out something along the lines of: "$100 a shaft is the going rate."
That $100/shaft guideline has not really applied to my loom acquisitions.
There are so many other variables involved, including table or floor loom, weaving width, brand, condition, location, and possible upgrades.
Two-and-a-half years ago, I came across an ad for one of my bucket-list dream looms: 24" Macomber with 8 shafts. The price listed was $300, but she was in Turlock, California while I was in South Texas.
At the time, it was only the second 24" Macomber I had ever seen for sale.
After a brief discussion with my wonderful husband, I bought it, flew to California, rented an SUV, and drove it back.
It was missing a heel rest and needed a pair of aprons to be functional; however, I also added a sectional beam and swapped out the dreaded ratchet brake for a friction one.
Excluding the flight, truck rental, and food/lodging for the trip, I spent another $656 for those upgrades to the loom.
Even with the cost of travel, this loom was worth it to me because my backup plan was to buy a brand new one at just under $3,000 prior to shipping, adding a second sectional beam, and upgrading all brakes to friction. Further, it takes between nine months and a year to take delivery of a new Macomber once it has been ordered and paid for.
Here she is shortly after I got her home with a heel rest borrowed from my 32" Macomber.
She was not without her issues when she arrived. We worked through them here and here. However, once her sectional beam and new friction brakes arrived, she has turned into a wonderful little loom. She is so easy to treadle and weave on, whatever project I have on her just falls off.
I have no idea what her market worth is, but I have no intention of selling her.
The year prior to acquiring the 24" Macomber, I found a 32" Macomber 4-harness in Washington State for $800.
At the time, my only other floor loom was the Beast - 56" Macomber 8-shaft with a plain beam and a sectional beam. I wanted a secondary loom on which to dedicate tea towels to free up the larger loom for bigger projects.
Again, I consulted with the husband, and we bought it. I arranged with TSI (ask for Carol, she has shipped looms for me and a close friend now) to pick it up from the seller, pack it securely, and house it, until it could piggy back a moving cargo from the Northwest to South Texas.
It was an anxious six weeks from the moment it was loaded from the seller until it arrived. I also spent more on shipping than I had the loom ($980), but it was worth it to me.
According to the 2015 price list on the Macomber Loom website, a new 32" with 8 harnesses with a second sectional beam with 1-inch sections and friction brakes would be well over $3,500, plus shipping.
We added new aprons ($39/each), four harness units ($228 each), a sectional beam with 1-inch sections ($123 + $39), swapped out the existing ratchet brake for a friction brake ($49), and had a friction brake added to the sectional ($49), then paid for shipping on all of it...
Of course, each of my looms also has new heddles, which are just par for the course.
The Beast was my first Macomber. When I acquired him, I had been without a loom for an entire week because I had sold my Leclerc Artisat 4-shaft floor loom to one friend and my Schacht 8-shaft table loom to another.
I bought the Beast from his original owner off in the piney woods of East Texas. At 56-inches of weaving width, he only had four shafts and string aprons. He required new heddles, a pair of aprons, and four additional Ad-a-Harness units to bring him up to eight. Later, I added a second sectional beam.
These three make up what I consider to be my stable of looms. I vacillate among them, trying to decide which is my favorite. Fortunately, I do not have to choose.
The Beast is the most versatile due to his size; however, the 24" Meg is the easiest to treadle.
In October, I added Evangeline, 40" Macomber, to the fleet. She came with a sectional beam and six harnesses.
Before I even brought her home, I ordered two additional harnesses to bring her up to eight
She has a new apron on the cloth beam, as well as all new heddles. I bought and installed a lamm depressor, instead of the wooden dowel hanging about the treadles.
As soon as her current warp is exhausted, the sweet husband will add the harnesses, lamms, jacks, and treadles to her.
She is the youngest and is dated 1980, but her original owner died in 1984 and she appears to have been moved into a shed or garage for a few decades, until I bought her from the son.
The metal pins on the sectional beam are rusted and the waxed cord is showing its age.
I contacted Macomber a few days ago to inquire if they sold the replacement waxed cord or could direct me to what to use. Linda was kind enough to let me know they sold replacement restring kits with waxed linen cord, tacks, and instructions for $30.
I promptly ordered one.
My issue at the moment is whether I should add a plain beam to this one so that all four Macombers are outfitted in the exact same way.
I have not been able to determine whether this is to satisfy some OCD need or whether it makes good sense to do so.
I prepare and load just as many warps on the plain beam, as I do the sectional beam, even though I prefer to do it sectionally.
If I did not dye warps, I would probably be more inclined to warp sectionally; however, I love hand dyed warps. I do not foresee that changing.
Without a plain beam, Evangeline is limited to sectional warps.
I know I can put a plain warp on a sectional beam, but I am not inclined to do so.
A plain beam is $197. To upgrade to a friction brake from the standard ratchet brake is $49. Of course, that does not include shipping...
Actually, that does not sound too bad.
The other thing I have been contemplating is upgrading one or more of the larger looms to ten shafts. The 24" Meg is maxed at eight shafts, but the three other ones all have space for up to ten shafts.
I have not truly considered it because there are so few ten-shaft patterns to justify it, BUT with two additional harnesses it would be possible to add a plain weave border to each side of the woven fabric with an eight-shaft pattern between them.
I have done this with four-shaft and six-shaft patterns. It is nice!
Here is a draft I created in Fiberworks to illustrate what a four-shaft pattern with even weave border looks like:
Here is what one side looks like on a loom:
I used fewer threads for the plain weave portion to make it narrower in practice.
One nice offshoot of adding the plain weave edges is the absence of a floating selvage when weaving patterns.
Note: I just realized in looking at the draft, I did not include the tie ups for all plain weave. To achieve overall plain weave, just tie up all even harnesses to one treadle you are not already using and all odd harnesses to another unused treadle.
It makes the most sense to upgrade the Beast to ten-shafts because he is the most versatile and can accommodate narrow scarves to wide blankets, but it would be the most expensive of all of them to upgrade with each Ad-a-Harness unit running $308!
But, as I grind on it, I also realize if I added the plain beam and two more harnesses to the 40", I would have almost as many options with that loom as I do with the Beast, just not quite the width. LOL.
In an ideal weaving world, each loom would sport two beams and ten harnesses...
I tell myself it is okay to upgrade these looms because I have no intention of parting with them, so there is no need to try to recoup my investment.
Hopefully, by the time I am done with weaving, dead and gone, these will have appreciated in value and my heirs will be able to find someone interested in opening a weaving school.
In the meantime, we will keep weaving away.
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