I have a navajo style loom that I build from pine 2x4s. It is 7ft x 4ft. I noticed that the sides of the frame has shifted, one side pushes back and the other pushes forward. The corners of the frame remain at 90degrees. There is a beam across the front with turnbuckles to hang the dowels and the bottom of the frame has an iron rod for the bottom dowel. The whole frame is set into a 4ft square base. My question, is this shift of the sides going to be a problem, or is the 90degree angles of the corners sufficient? (I will post images of my loom on my page, since I can't see where to add them here)

Comments

Wed, 03/12/2014 - 15:59

sandra.eberhar…

I think the frame skewing will be a problem because it is twisting the joints.  You didn't say how you fastened the corners of your frame.  Using glue with dowels, mortise and tenon or a lap joint should secure it enough to prevent twisting.  I suggest cutting triangles of plywood and gluing and screwing them to the corners to take the skew out.

To add pictures, click on the little green box when you post.  If you put your cursor on it, it will say "Add/edit image".  There are also directions for posting pictures.

Wed, 03/12/2014 - 16:25

Doanart

Thanks for your feedback. The corners do have triangles screwed into the corners. They are also glued and have l brackets on the inside of the corners...when we built it we put in all these measures to prevent just what happened! I am thinking this wood was just bad.
Sat, 03/15/2014 - 01:09

sandra.eberhar…

I think if you could post pictures it would help figure out what the problem is.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:46

ReedGuy

Is what you are describing, some bowing going on? If so, then you got a hold of lumber with some compression wood where there is fast growth with a lot more red in the rings than normal. The end of the growth in the rings are less distinct. This is seen on the end of the boards. And the wood grain is harder to work with tools. It is reaction wood the tree produced caused from some event effecting it's normal growth. I'm not sure if this will hinder your use at all. In some applications this wood would be reject. But don't toss the loom yet unless it's causing some frustration. It would be difficult for us to give advise, and highly speculative in my opinion.

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