Kessenich--Replacing the Shaft and Lamm Cords

Replacing the Shaft and Lamm Cords
I'm documenting how I'm replacing all 16 cords in case I need to do it again, and it might be helpful to others who also need to update their old Kessenich loom, if it's the same. Bruce Niemi, the owner of Kessenich Looms, is very helpful and his advice should be followed though.

Cords
I'm using Oregon #4  1/8" starter cord made in Germany because it's available by the foot from Dickey Bub.  I bought 60 feet and used most of it. I used about 30" long pieces for the lower cords and 50"+ for the top cords.  It does kink up a bit, so it's helpful to have the old spool to wrap it on.

Replacing Lower Cords
We started with the lower cords which attach to the lamms.  Do not make tight knots at the bottom of the lamms because they will probably need to be adjusted after replacing the top cords.

The lower cords are wrapped on my loom about 1 1/2 times when the shaft board is all the way up so you can see the pipes easily and have room to work.

Shafts 1 and 3 wrap toward the front of the loom (lower cords only).  Shafts 2 and 4 wrap toward the back of the loom (lower cords only). The wraps for the lamms are closer to the inside of the loom.  Shafts 1 and 3 go down in front of the pipe to the lamm; shafts 2 and 4 go down in back to the lamm.

The pipes for each shaft have a large hole and a small hole for both the lower and upper cords.  Make a knot near the end of the cord, about 1/2" away, and burn the end to seal it.  Feed the cord through the large hole and down into the small hole and pull through, making the knot stay inside the pipe.  Take the cord and wrap it the correct direction 1 1/2 wraps (my loom) and then down to the lamm.  Tie a knot loosely under the lamm--it will be adjusted later. Do all 8 cords: 4 on each side, to the lamms.

Before tying the knots, make sure to clean and wax the end of the lamms well and into the castle wall.

Shaft 1 pipe has new cord wrapped around it (white/blue cord).  You can see the other hole of the pipe where the old upper cord knot is and the old cord that wraps 3 times and goes up to the pulley.

Upper Cords
Cut longer pieces of cord for the upper cords--about 50-60" so you have room to work with it.  For each shaft, the upper cord will be wrapped in the opposite direction of the lower cord on the same pipe.  This cord goes closer to the castle wall, so wrap so the wraps go toward the castle wall.  I used 3 1/2 wraps per cord for my loom. It then goes along the inside of the castle wall up to the pulley.  If the cord wraps toward the front, the end goes up the back side of the pipe; if it wraps toward the back, the end goes up the front of the pipe to the pulley.  Make sure the shaft boards have the "cut-out" part where the cord will run.  We took out all the boards and will wax them and the inside of the castle before replacing them.

         You can see the 1st shaft (left pipe) and the 2nd shaft with the new cords in place.

Pulleys
Taking the cord up into the pulley isn't easy.  It needs to go up the side of the pulley closest to the outside of the loom and down the other side.  We took a thin piece of string or thick thread and fed it down the pulley (the side toward the outside of the loom) until we had a long enough piece to tie to the end of the cord.  We pulled on the string and it pulled the cord up the pulley.

                                                Here's the thread ready to pull up the cord.
Then take the cord down the other side of the pulley and down through the shaft board and knot.  I am waxing all the boards first and the inside of the castle and will tie loosely until I am ready to adjust all the knots.

From what I understand, when the lamms are up, the shafts will be down, and there shouldn't be a gap larger than 1/2" of the lower shaft hanging down.  I really don't want the shaft boards to hit the top of the castle board, though, each time the shaft is raised, so I am going to aim for it to be about 1/4" lower from the top board when raised.  I'll consult with Bruce about that, too.

I won't adjust all the knots until I can replace the rubber bumper pads that the shafts will rest on.

Kessenich Floor Loom Updating

                                              Other Updates to My Loom
Apron Strings, Tie-on strings, Brake cord
I'm going to make other updates to my loom.  I'll replace all the tie-on strings, apron strings, and the cord to the back brake.  The tie-on strings are min-braided 1/16th" diameter.  I'll leave this chain because it's kind of interesting to have the old chain and fishing swivel here since it never has to be taken off the pin.

Pulley and Lamm Cords
This old Kessenich has cords and pulleys to lift the shafts up.  When the shafts are down, the lamms should be up so they are close together--about 1/4" apart is ok.  But, the cords have stretched on this loom, so the lamms are hanging down and are crooked.  The lower knot next to the lamms can be moved up, or I can replace all the cords.  If I replace them all, I'll use Stens 1/8" starter rope for small engines, commercial or professional grade.  In the past, they used Venetian Blind cord, which isn't made well now.  Stens is made in the U.S. and is very good quality cord.

If the lamms are hanging down too far and are crooked, the shed will be narrow and not even.  It will be a job to replace them all.  I'll have to take a lot of pictures to be sure I'm putting the cord on and wrapping it the right way, or it won't work.  The steel roller has a large and small hole--the knot of the cord goes through the large hole and is caught by the small hole.  Use a candle to make sure the end won't fray as you're feeding it around, but don't let the end "mushroom" or it will be hard to feed. There will be 8 cords above and 8 cords below (4 on each side) to replace. The left and right sides are mirror images of each other.  Take lots of pics!

Furniture Paste Wax
I'm going to use furniture wax for all the wooden surfaces that I can reach. I'll use Trewax.  Bruce said to put several tablespoons in an old sock and use it to wipe it on the wood.  He said to especially wax the edges of the shafts and anywhere the wood touches wood like inside the castle.

Updating my 1960s Kessenich Floor Loom

  My Kessenich Floor loom was made in the late 1960s by the original Kessenich loom maker in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.  It's made out of red oak.

  It needs some loving care and renovating.  The first problem is that the top of the beater bar is cracked in 2 places, so it will be repaired or replaced.

Apron and Cloth Beam
  The apron is very old and stained, so I took off the wooden pieces holding the cloth beam and washed the apron.  It's still pretty yellowed, so I will replace it.  I took the cloth beam metal rod off that holds the cloth brake, and there is a worn spot from the handle, so I'll have to look at that when I get it back on to see if the handle is still rubbing, or if it happened long ago and is no longer a problem.

Ancient Tie-up Chains
The tie up chains will be replaced by Texsolv cord and arrow pegs.  This won't be traditional to the loom, but it will be much easier to change tie-ups when weaving.  I took the harnesses out to see the tops of the tie-up chains where they connect to the lamms.

The old tie-ups were made of a chain that is called toilet chain because it's similar to that kind of chain.  The top of the tie-ups at the lamms were cotter pins that were cut off and bent to hold the chains at the lamms.  The lower part of the chain had the hook of a fishing swivel to attach to the treadles.  They are very old and very difficult to open, so Texsolv will be much better.  The current Kessenich loom maker has used Texsolv since 2004. Texsolv cord is available by the spool from weaving shops so I'm getting it and the arrow pegs from Yarn Barn in Kansas.

Here's a picture of the old tie-ups with the fishing swivel, which were used until the mid-1970s.

The fishing swivels:

Oiling the steel rollers 
The loom has spots where you need to oil the roller at the pulleys and on the inside of the castle at the steel rod.  To oil the top pulleys, I took off the 2 screws to the left and right top pieces of wood and oiled the rod so the pulleys will roll very freely.  I used sewing machine oil.  Bruce said to use machine oil or sewing machine oil.  It looks like there is some wear from a cord that must have been too big at some point by the right pulleys.

 These are the top pulleys after taking off the wooden piece on the left and right top of the castle.

These are the  holes where you squirt in 6-8 drops of machine oil.  Or you can oil it from the inside of the castle after taking the shafts out.

Black Pads--Replace
The 4 black pads that the shafts rest on and the lamms rest on (above the lamms) will have to be scraped off, the glue removed, and the pads replaced.  Bruce said you can use sponge rubber from a supply house that cargo haulers use.  I believe he said 1" wide and the strip should be 1/2" thick.  Use a little bit of coarse sandpaper to rough up the spot a little bit and glue the rubber down or get the pads from Bruce.

More loom renovation in my next post!

Whig Rose Miniature Overshot Table Runner

I took a wonderful weaving class from Jeff Reynolds at the Jefferson City Fiber Retreat.  We wove samples of the Whig Rose pattern by Josephine Estes.  Her miniature overshot patterns are available online and are called "Original Miniature Patterns for Hand Weaving."  Miniatures are good for smaller projects where you don't want large floats of thread.

This is the threading for Whig Rose by Josephine Estes:

I threaded 5 repeats of the pattern so I can weave a table runner.  We used 8/4 cotton for warp, and I used the natural color.  We could use a 10 dent reed or a 12 dent, and I only had a 12 dent, so I used that. He supplied Sugar 'n Cream for the weft pattern, and we used the 8/4 cotton for tabby.  We used Sugar 'n Cream so we could easily see the pattern as we were weaving.

This is the draw down of the pattern in Star Fashion:

Because the pattern is star fashion, you can follow a diagonal line of the pattern as you're weaving.  So, you can figure out which shafts to use next based on how the threads share a shaft. We put a pin in diagonally on the weaving alongside a diagonal line of the pattern to follow.

I had a lot of trouble getting the weft beat in well enough so the pattern would be symmetrical, which means that the circles should be as circular as possible, instead of ovals.  I used my Structo 4-shaft table loom.  You can take out extra picks as you're weaving.

When I got home, I tried other yarns to get the pattern to work well.  I realized the table loom was moving too much as I was beating since it's not on a stand which should hold it more firmly in place.  So, I changed to a size 3/2 cotton for pattern weft and a 10/2 cotton for tabby.  When I beat, I have to lean against the table loom to brace it so it won't move.  I also change sheds and beat again before throwing the shuttle.  I could hold down the table loom as I beat, but then I'd have to put down the shuttle, which would be a lot slower since you're weaving with 2 shuttles.

Here's the experiment I'm happy with--3/2 cotton weft, 10/2 cotton tabby, and 8/4 cotton warp using a size 12 dent reed, 1 per dent for my table runner.

You can also weave this pattern in rose fashion.  Here's what it would look like: