I am Canadian who spends about half my time in Thailand. I am an enthusiastic newly addicted weaver who is just as interested in loom construction as in the wonderful fabric that can be produced on them.
I decided that I would build my own loom in Thailand because I have no idea where to buy one,
When I came from Vancouver I brought texsolv cord and heddles, two shortened reeds (size limited by baggage restiction) and some LeClerc plastic shuttles. I decided to use Travis Mienolf''s plan for a counter balance loom.
I suspect that there are better places to get wood in Korat, but my wife took me to a wood salvage yard. Most of the wood was suited for a compost heap but there was some good stuff. The operators cut me strips of wood about the size I wanted and planed it on two sides. When it came time to make my beams I took some of the wood back and had the other two sides planed, I should have had four sides planed on the whole works. It would have saved many hours sanding, I ended up with at least two types of well seasoned hardwood. I think one was mahogany, it smelled like mahogany when I drilled it and sometimes it smoked. The sawdust was either brown or or smoking ashes. The other wood was much lighter in color. My raddle is a piece of wood I found around the house, I tried drilling undersize holes in it then pounding a nails into the holes, it was like pounding nails into steel, I ended up drilling holes the same size as my nails and sliding the nails into the holes. I am tempted to call this my sh..wood loom. My beater - reed holder is a weird lamination of wood from the lumber yard and scrap from around the house and wood putty. Considering my tools, I think I did a good job.
Early in the construction of the loom I noticed that some of the drawings did not agree with the dimensions given in the plans. I checked the pictures on the Action-Weaver website and found that they lookred like they were made to his dimensions. I decided that his plans were a work in progress so before I started assmbly I drilled several spare holes so that I could adjust the final layout easily.
I couldn't find any wooden dowel so I used PVC pipe for the rollers and threaded rod for tie rods. I used rectangular sticks for my heddle frames, if I can find suitabe round dowel I will change, it will be easier to slide the heddles along the frames.
I could not bring myself to use lock pins for the two beams so I used more conventional locking devices.
I used texsolv cord for tying my pedals to the heddle frames using my own ideas without using Travis instructions.
This is the bare frame.
I understand that saw blades are frequently used as ratchets in Swedish looms.
A sledge hammer head is an excellent substitute for a spring in a brake.on a warp beam.
Peg pins with the points cut off are a good substitute for texsolv locking pegs at a tenth the price.
Lease sticks were a bit of a problem, guess where I salvaged mine.
Here is my shed with a shuttle in it
my raddle in use
First threading.
So far my loom seems ok. I think that I will move my cloth bar a bit closer to the beater.When I am satisfied with the final position I will trim the extra ends
I like aprons, I will add a second apron