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loom in danger

there is a loom in the lake district that is in danger of being chopped into firewood.

for reasons that are too long-winded to go into on a wee 15-minute net sesh, i find myself in the central belt of scotland about to take a trip to greater manchester and back.

there was a dobby loom in the same location, and i was considering running over to rescue the box and reeds, but somebody has bought the loom as a One.

there's still another loom though, a 4 shaft counterbalance by the look of things, tho was unsure from my phone conversation. but it has a beater bar, with fly shuttle. and i'm starting to think that it might be worth my time doing it on foot, just to rescue the beater bar, shafts, back and cloth beams, pullets, ratchets and all that. i would feel awful taking a saw to a loom to cut off the useful parts, but i guess it's no different from taking the good components form a messed up old car that's gonna be scrapped

i don't want to break it into bits, but if it's that or kindling, i'd rather the expensive bits got saved.

-a

Comments

SpinningLizzy said…
Great minds think alike! Several times, I've considered doing just what you describe, although have never acted on it. After a while, though, it gets too easy to become overwhelmed with loom parts and accessories -- and too limited space! I've learned so much putting together loom parts myself -- it's great instruction in itself.
30 March 2009 at 05:20
Andrew Kieran said…
to be honest, i can't face traipsing over to penrith and back before gheading up north. i forget how tiring travelling becomes, being out of your comfort zone, having to sleep on strange couches and so on.

so i think i'll probably let it slide.

shame though
30 March 2009 at 22:26
Anonymous said…
When I read the first line, I thought perhaps it was a joking comment about frustration with a loom you were working with. I've never threatened to chop one in to firewood, but did grumble many remarks about throwing one particularly frustrating one out the window a number of times (it was a borrowed loom, which I'm no longer borrowing!).

That's too bad somebody isn't around there to salvage the nice parts. It's a shame when a loom isn't good for anything more than firewood. But on the other hand, it can be incredibly frustrating to work on a loom that isn't in good shape - so I suppose they can't all be saved.

By the way - Thanks for visiting my blog! I had fun reading some of your posts here, and hadn't stumbled across yours until I got your comment :-)
2 April 2009 at 04:32
Andrew Kieran said…
hooray!

as it goes, there's nothing wrong with the loom. it appears from the pictures ot be in perfect order. and what is a loom but a tyensioning device, a number of shafts and a reed?

as far as i'm concerned everything but the beater bar, reed and the ratchets can be jury rigged from fresh forest timber and everything else is just a bonus.

i did want to save the beater bar though. as i'm a long way off being able to build one of those myself.

hey ho
2 April 2009 at 19:40
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