Loom of Sadness

I’m selling a 45″ Colonial I picked up this past spring. It should be looked at as a parts loom, not a functional loom as the uprights have warped, among other issues.

I’m about $800 into it. Make me an offer- I’m in Seattle.

It was born as a 16 shaft compu-dobby in the late 90’s, but was converted (badly, it turns out) to a 12 shaft treadle loom.

The frame geometry was designed for front-hinged treadles, but the newer rear-hinged treadles were put on it, which halved the height of the shed, so they need replacing.

I was gearing up to build new treadles and rebuild the lamm box, (which was neither a good fit for the loom nor well constructed, and has more or less disintegrated). Taking detailed measurements for the rebuild was when I discovered how out of square the castle and overhead jack box was with the frame of the loom. I decided that was more of a reconstruction than I was into, so it needs to go.

I have the extra 4 heddle frames, and all the manuals and documentation on what was done when. I have metal heddles which can go with it.

I also have several thousand texsolv heddles and several reeds for it, and I’ll add those in if it’s going for a decent price.

It has a sectional beam.

It would be nice to get a couple hundred dollars back out of it, but one way or another it’s leaving. To the dump, if no one else wants it, which would be a shame because it has sound beams and shafts and jacks, so it just needs some new frame elements and a new set of treadles. The cloth advance system is my favorite of all the looms I’ve used.

I was able to weave a 4 shaft double weave sampler by using a weaving sword to open the shed enough to get a shuttle through, but it was no an awesome experience. I threaded a 10 shaft pattern and couldn’t get a usable shed at all.