Is it possible to date a loom (in particular a very old Swedish loom ;) ) by it's features, e.g whether it has wood or metal ratchets, whether they are inside or outside of the frame, the shape of the beater bars, whether it has an integral bench or not etc, or are they more regional than indicative of age?
on that subject, but it is in Swedish. The styles of looms will also vary, depending on whether the loom was made in the US or in Sweden, by someone who made a lot of looms, or by someone who just made them for family. I have not seen wood ratchets, just wooden handles for the ratchets. Beaters come in many shapes and the built in bench also has many different designs. Yes, there were many regional differences in Sweden, in the type of loom frame design as well as the details.
Joanne
Ooh, that sounds interesting.
Hmm, it was almost certainly made in Sweden. A previous owner was the "textile artist and painter, Stina Carlsson-Nielsson" who I think wrote/co-authored a number of books on tapestry, in swedish, and indeed the loom still has tapestry warp threads on the warp beam. (Don't ask me why!) The books date from around 1966 to 1984. I have no idea how or when her loom came to this country though. (UK)
Interesting that the wooden ratchet is unusual. I had kind of assumed that it was an indication of significant age. Funny you should mention wooden handles as there was one in the bag of reeds and temples, but afaict, it has nothing to do with this loom!
Another unusual feature is that both the wooden ratchet and the metal ratchet and handle/live tesion on the cloth beam are both onthe inside of the frame. In fact there are plenty of distinctive things about it that I could take photo's of. I will try and take some tomorrow.
1) Get in touch with Janet Meany (Duluth, MN, USA). She has been a long-established resource for folks looking to refurbish and/or research old looms. She has an old loom manual library. www.weaversfriend.com Many Swedes came to American through Canada to work in the mines in places like Minnesota and Colorado, so there might be more information about old Swedish looms in this part of America than you might expect.
2) Florence Feldman-Wood produces a "Hand Loom Supplement" as part of her Spinning Wheel Sleuth newsletter. In past issues, interesting, odd, and historic looms in America have been featured. www.spwhsl.com. She might be able to refer you to others owning old Swedish looms for comparison.
3) Contact Kerstin Froberg (here on Weavo). She is based in Sweden, and maybe can help you on that end of the world with your loom questions. http://bergdalaspinnhus.com/
4) Really long shots — try contacting the Handweaving Museum in Clayton, New York, part of the Thousands Islands Arts Center. Or try the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA. I wonder what their counterparts in Sweden would be—maybe Kerstin can help with a referral there?
Please let us know "the rest of the story" as it develops! (Like how it traveled to the UK?)
Sally
As I don't have acess to my books at the moment, I may be wrong... but I *think* tensioning devices inside the frames is a sign of age - or maybe a sign of an "amateur" loom-maker. I have never seen a Swedish loom with inside ratchets that came from a company - .
Kerstin, posting from Laura's account
I think I've found the date! I'm struggling with photos though. This is not the best, I'll try another in a minute.
This is the beater support bar. In pencil, it has "Jenny Olsson Yoyr (afaict) 1902" written on it. 
I can't seem to be able to up load the better picture of the date, so I've posted this one of the metal tipped pawl, the hole(s) for the front beam bearing (I presume, one old, one newer) and the groove presumably carved by the ratchet.
...and not a shaft weaving loom at all. Do you have any photos you could post of the whole thing? Tapestry weavers do use big heavy looms too, but they tend to be more upright than long.
Sorry no pics of the whole thing. I took some pics of various parts a few days ago, but am havign trouble uploading them.
These are (presumeably) the original horses, but there is a new set too which were on the loom when it was last set up for use. (I saw pics of it before I bought it and it had all four set up, I don't know how they were threaded though.) The heddle bars are all new too, but some of the old ones are now in service on the warp beam.
I'm pretty sure that it was warped with the intention of doing tapestry, I certainly wouldn't want much of that warp to show!
It's pretty deep, maybe as deep as it is high (about 5ft) and about 4ft wide. I'll measure properly tomorrow.
Those are pulleys for a counterbalance, I think. It's possible to do tapestry on a harness loom. It's just that most prefer a more upright loom.
