I have been weaving on this old counterbalance loom for a few years, and up to now have not had much trouble weaving one harness against three. Usually I have used no. 10 crochet cotton and woven honeycomb tied up with one treadle per per harness, and woven 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, (then the tabbies), 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4 (then the next tabbies), etc. Adjust the cords from treadles to lams, crank up the tension and weave away. If a shed is iffy, slap a hand over the tops of the upper harnesses, give them a bit of a squeeze, and move along.
Now I am doing my first project with 16/2 linen yarn, 36 inches wide, threaded for huck lace stripes alternating with plain weave stripes, and those workarounds are not working. The jack loom tie up for the project is 2-3, 1-3, 2-4, and 1-3-4, so I tied up 1-4, 2-4, 1-3 and 2. Treadling is 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, and so on.
I can view the warp threads traveling in a straight line from back beam through heddles & reed and over front beam. At present the threads travel just a little above the center of the reed.
Problem 1 - The shed on treadle 4 is short and droopy. The one good feature about that shed, it rests on the shuttle race, so the shuttle does not scoot under the bottom threads. It does, however, want to fly over the top of the threads and out of that shed entirely. I have been using my weaving sword to raise the upper threads -- a cumbersome fix. I did try raising the reed to perfectly center the threads, but when you do that the short shed just gets shorter.
Problem 2 - The sheds formed by treadles 1, 2 and 3 rest nearly an inch above the shuttle race and the shuttle falls through the bottom threads. My temporary fix is to insert my weaving sword in the shed, lay it on the threads and throw the shuttle on the sword. Pull out the sword, beat, change sheds, insert sword, throw shuttle, repeat. Slows a woman down.
I have only woven a few inches so far, and am well within my sample allowance for tis project. So I have room to try any suggestions you may have. Thanks in advance for your help!
Karen