So I bought a loom

It’s a 50″ 4 shaft/ 6 treadle Norwood cherry loom, probably about the same age as me.

It’s generally in great shape, and the cherry has aged beautifully, but there are some weak points in the design that need some reinforcing.

The highest priority is reattaching the uprights that support the shafts to the feet. The screws were too small and too short to stand the considerable forces applied to the loom, and a couple of them had started to strip. The loom was still perfectly square, but starting to get a little wobbly.

In the medium term I will replace the lags with larger, longer ones that are up to the task. I may decide to through-bolt these parts rather than getting bigger lags.

For today, to get the loom back together and usable, I’m making use of a hillbilly hack. I have some soft wood sticks I’m splitting into shims, and using to tighten up the screw holes. They will keep the loom stable somewhat indefinitely.

One of the shims was too small, so I have a pic of what happens inside the screw holes.