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December 30, 2016

This Old Table Loom

It's been no secret that I've been looking for a reasonably priced 8 shaft loom and a reasonable priced table loom.  I've whined to all my friends, asking them to keep an eye out for me.  I missed one, which was my own fault because I waited too long to decide.  But sometimes, fate steps in and Lady Luck deals you a good hand.

The day before yesterday, I got a phone call from a friend, who said she'd just picked up this donated table loom and did I want to house it.  It was currently in the back of her car.   Of course I said yes.  She dropped off this baby!  It is made by Metiers Clement Inc, out of Saint Justin, Que.  Interestingly, it seems like the company is still in business, although from what I could tell, they stopped selling looms in the 1980's.

It's big and it's heavy!  It has a weaving width of 24 inches and is solid wood.  It has 4 shafts, strong and secure levers for the brake release, front and back beams.   I played with a Dorothy once, which had a flying brake lever.  If you didn't move the brake lever in exactly the correct way, it flew off, across the room!  It is a jack loom.  It has sturdy metal lams and everything.  The levers to move these are under the loom.   It also has a sectional beam, like an honest to goodness real one, with a 1 inch spacing.  I've never tried sectional warping before and it almost seems like it might be overkill on a table loom, except for the sturdiness of this little loom.
 

The loom needs a bit of TLC as well.  For one thing, it's filthy.  I mean really, dirty.  It had a thick layer of dust and a layer of brownish grime, lots of build up of dirt and oil from handling the beater and spots of something brown and drippy, which I'm hoping was a benign substance.   The front apron needs to be replaced and all the lamms need the decades old greased cleaned off, and replaced.   However once that is done, it looks like it could be a fun little loom.     I did find a photo of one of these looms on a little table stand, with the shaft raising mechanisms attached to treadles.  
I've already spent a couple of hours cleaning the loom up, with at least a couple more to go.   Then I'll figure out how to dress the loom and give it a whirl.



6 comments:

  1. I recently acquired a loom like this and found your post while researching it on-line. Did you ever get it up and running?

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  2. I just bought a similar one and I have some problems with the mécanisme. Are you able to héla me?

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  3. I ended up passing the loom on to someone else who needed a loom more than I did. It was in working order though. It just needed cleaning up and a new apron.

    Unknown - I'd say that if you are having any problems get the loom up and running, find a group or guild of weavers near you. They are always willing to help people get started and many of them have lots of experience with fixing looms. Mostly, looms are relatively simple machines, with fairly easy fixes. I'd be happy to help you if I could though.

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  4. Could you tell me if the shafts locked in open position when not connected with the treadles? I have recently found one of these looms and it includes the treadles, but if I want to use as a table loom the levers don’t appear to lock in the set position?

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  5. I had to rebuild some métal parts because it was too used but you are lucky to have a threadle system please post some pictures

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