Hi everyone! I'm new here and to weaving. Three days for both to be exact! I have a vintage 16" Spear's loom and it's kind of primitive. I have to hold the heddle up to form an up shed. Letting it hang or pushing down on it slightly makes the down shed. It has teeth on the cloth beam and the warp beam. I'm not sure of the dents per inch, but I calculated it to be around 4.5. I'm too broke to get a brand new loom (like a Schacht Flip...drool...) and I think some mods would make it a little more user-friendly. I'd like to get some new heddles for it and I found that Beka makes custom heddles for $1.50 an inch. What about the teeth/slots on the beams? I think they correlate to the number of dents on the original heddle. What do I do when I get different sized heddles? How will the warp align? Lastly, I really would like a heddle block with up, down and neutral positions. Holding the heddle up is severely impacting my ability to make a nice selvage on the side of the up shed. The selvage on the side with the down shed looks much better. Beka only makes ones for neutral position, probably for people adding additional heddles to their Beka looms. I know Ashford and Schacht make heddle blocks with all three positions, but I wonder if either will fit the Beka heddle. TIA for any help on this :D
I love primitive looms!
This sounds like a fun project.
Can you post a picture of your loom?
Have a good day!
You don't say what type of tensioning your loom has.
Many older RH looms have wing nuts or wooden nuts that are supposed to clamp down on the warp and cloth beam.
Sadly, this type of tensioning was never reliable. I personally would only spend money to beef up one of these older looms if it has a decent ratchet and pawl on at least one of the beams, preferably both. Otherwise you will get slippage that will make achieving nice results difficult, if not impossible.
The new generation of RH looms has some nice, subtle features that make them much nicer than the older ones -
1. Ratchet and pawl tension
2. Tieon bars instead of those annoying teeth help make initial tensioning easier
3. A "neutral" parking place for the heddle when not in use or doing pickup weaves
I have to agree with Sara.
I had two RH looms, an Erica and an older Beka. I sold the Beka.
1. Both were older models that had Nut & bolt friction holding, not Ratchet and pawl tension
2. Tie-on bars instead of those annoying teeth help make initial tensioning easier
Erica has tie-on bars, Beka had teeth. When I had the Beka, I found that by skipping or doubling up on the teeth I could accomodate different heddle sizes.
3. A "neutral" parking place for the heddle when not in use or doing pickup weaves
Erica has a heddle block with 3 positions, up-neutral-down. Beka had a 2 position heddle blocks and two more unattached heddle blocks for warping.
I have to replace the heddle blocks on the Erica, and I could show to make new blocks.
Have a good day!
Thanks! I have a picture of my loom in my first project picture.
It's true my loom has wingnuts on it, but I feel my first project went along very well as far as tensioning was concerned, so the only mod I'm going to make is to replace them with larger knob-type wingnuts. Mine does have teeth, but I didn't find them annoying so far. I'm not really planning on immersing myself into measuring and planning for now, just playing around. If I like it well enough, I may ask for a nice one for Christmas. My heddle blocks only hold it in neutral postion, not up or down, so I definitely want to modify that. My dad has a jigsaw, so I made a cardboard template of a three position heddle block that holds two heddles, like the ashford kit. Hopefully we'll make it this week. Someone on Ravelry directed me to this website to find inexpensive Beka heddles, so I think I'm going to order and try cutting them down with a saw if necessary. The mods I'm making aren't too expensive, so if the day comes when I feel I've outgrown my little loom, I'm sure I will be able to sell my loom and accessories and make most of my money back. Thank you for replying :D
I would love to see the heddle blocks that you are making! I made a cardboard template and hope to make mine this week. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you :) I wonder if it's possible to convert to a ratchet and pawl systerm?
I just saw the pictures of your loom on your project page.
Very cool! The heddles made of wire are a clever idea. Does your warp get hung up on it when you change between up shed and down shed?
How much of a gap is there at the end of the wooden part where the wire heddle ends and then the end of the wood?
Have a good day!
*from my blog post today, a picture showing the heddle block on my Erica loom*
Here I am at the end of the warp. You can see how I'm right against the heddle and the far loom bar. I'm trying to push through as many throws as I can before I can't put any more.
Here my heddle is in a DOWN position (weft on the right) and is held down by the heddle block. The heddle block is the U shaped piece of wood on the loom. When in the UP position the bottom wood piece sits on top of the heddle block. The slot in the middle of the heddle block is the Neutral position and is good place to park the heddle for warping up.
This heddle block is cracked and I'll need to make a replacement for it.
** I'm planning to cut heddle block this weekend, Lord willing and the creek don't rise**
Have a good day!
I also have an old rigid heddle loom that has no heddle block. Don't know what kind of loom it is I bought it used.
Could someone post an plain line drawing of a 3 position heddle block. I could then find someone to make one for me.
Thanks
Uwi
Corrected and expanded from earlier post.
Heddle blocks that have only a slot for holding the reed in neutral position (no slots or indentations for up or down shed) should be as tall as the slots on your reed, and positioned on the frame so that the tops align with the plane of the warp between the beams. The slots on the blocks for neutral position have to be deep enough to match the distance from the bottom of the reed, including the bottom beam, and the hole position on the reed, or less, if your loom has cross beams on top of the frame to elevate the warp above the fabric and warp beams. Make sense?
I don't know if all manufacturer's reeds are standardized so that the slots are the same height. I can check my Beka, Schacht, and Ashford reeds when I get home tonight. If they're all the same, you could buy whichever blocks you like. But if you want to make your own, you just need to measure your reed slots and hole positions.
Checked my reeds--each maker has a different reed height. Schacht's Cricket reeds are shorter than their old RH reeds; don't know about Schacht Flip reeds. Ashford's are slightly taller than Schacht. Beka's are clearly the shortest of my collection.
You might want to check with the Woolery. They are always super helpful when I ask strange questions, even over the phone, can cut custom reeds, and have everything you could ever need if you wanted to go the buying route.
Thanks, for the info it's helpful.
I am using 10 and 6 dent heddles for the Erica. Not having the 2 heddle block is proving difficult bc I made a stand for it. I think I am going to ask a friend to make one for me. The Erica was in my price range when I bought it, but there are limitations.
I forgot to mention, I purchased them from the woolery and they are leclerc bergere..
