I am wanting to purchase a McMorran Yarn balance but they are no longer in production.  Does anyone have one they want to part with?

Comments

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 01:39

loomyladi (not verified)

At the auction at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival a McMorran Yarn balance sold for $60!
Tue, 05/07/2013 - 03:09

Cathy (not verified)

I recently bought one from Vavstuga. They posted on one of the weaving Yahoo groups that they still had them in stock and that you could buy one by calling them and purchasing by credit card.  I don't recall the phone number but you could check their website. She said that they bought the remaining stock when the manufacturer stopped making them.  They were not charging more than the regular retail price.

Mon, 06/24/2013 - 21:46

Susan Z Conover (not verified)

Vavstuga sold the last of our McMorran Yarn balances a few weeks ago.  We purchased what we believe was the remaining stock in the North America.  There are no more balances to be had!

Susan Conover, Operations Mgr. of Vavstuga Weaving School

Tue, 06/25/2013 - 01:33

sarahnopp (not verified)

I just found this post on Weavezine (http://www.weavezine.com/your-best-weaving-tips?page=35):

As an alternative when I didn't have a McMorran balance, I used a straight, well balanced 12 inch long bamboo skewer. The point was cut off to make both ends the same and it measured about 11 inches in length. Mark the center, tie a string around it and suspend it—to make a balance. Then tie a length (eg. 12 inches) of known thread 1/4 inch from one end. At 1/4 inch from the other end, tie a long enough piece of the unknown thread to tip the balance down at this end. Then cut short bits from the end of the unknown thread until the skewer returns to a horizontal position. Measure the length of the unknown thread. 2/8 cotton is 3360 yards per pound. If the unknown thread is 14 inches in length, the yarn will be 3360/12 x 14 = 3920 In other words, for every 12 inches in length of the known thread, you will have 14 inches of the unknown thread—3920 yards per pound. I find the skewer very sensitive to differences in threads so I use this little balance and still do not have a McMorran balance.

Tue, 06/25/2013 - 10:37

Kade1301

They can be had for little money and I find them easier to use than the McMorran balance (where I tended to snip and snip and snip without the arm ever balancing, and then suddenly it's shooting up...) Now I simply measur off a meter or two of yarn, weigh it and and do my calculations from there.

Tue, 06/25/2013 - 17:33

sarahnopp (not verified)

What kind of scale do you use? I am interested in any solution really. So how do you use it, what are your calculations?

Tue, 06/25/2013 - 17:33

tien (not verified)

Eugene Textile Center http://www.eugenetextilecenter.com/ found a place to manufacture McMorran balances, and is now carrying them! It's such a new product, though, that it's not on their website yet - you have to call them to order.

(I saw the balances at ANWG, and got that info from them there.)

Tue, 06/25/2013 - 19:27

sarahnopp (not verified)

That is great news Tien! I knew Suzie had talked about it a couple years ago. I didn't ever get to really look through her booth though, it was always full and I was always in a hurry. I will shoot her an email about it.

Wed, 06/26/2013 - 10:20

Kade1301

I'm using scales with a precision of 1/100 g, weighing up to 300 g - produced in China, no brand, bought from Amazon.fr, price 21.90 Euros. They are NOT absolutely precise (if I weight the same item twice I probably get two different figures) - but precision lab scales cost a multiple of what I paid. And I think the variation from one stretch of handspun to the next is even bigger than the mearuring error. (Besides, there was a discussion somewhere recently that today's McMorran balances aren't the precision instruments they once were. And "normal" scales are also useful for dyeing, weighing letters and, possibly, for cooking... The ones I ended up with seem reasonably well made - not so flimsy that they fall apart as soon as you press a button.)

The calculations are based upon the rule of three: If 2 m of yarn weigh 1.25 g, then 1 kg of yarn contains (2 m * 1000 g)/1.25 g = 1600 m of yarn.

At least I hope so (my calculations are usually wrong - whatever I'm calculating, just ask my accountant). So far I'm simply jutting down the weight for 2 m of yarn, keeping the data for when I need it for something.

Of course you can snip off whichever length you want - I just thought 1 m (which would make calculations a bit easier) was a bit too short and light-weight. And I'm too lazy (and stingy with yarn) to cut off 10 m. Theoretically you could also put a lenght of yarn on the scales and snip pieces off till the display shows exactly 1 g (or 10 g, or whatever) - but that would be as slow as with a McMorran balance.

Sat, 06/29/2013 - 04:55

IsabellaParrott (not verified)

Yes, I got a "Yarn to Yards Balance" at Eugene Textile Center, (www.EugeneTextileCenter.com) and it works perfectly. It is nice because the instructions are right on the plastic box which helps. Amazing tool.