My upright loom (Bernie) came with almost everything in working order, with the exception of the springs for the friction brakes and small pegs to hold the beater springs and raddle (when used). Bungee cords worked fine on the brakes and I made do with some small dowels for the pegs. To save some space when I moved the loom into the new studio I removed the hinged beater frame which effectively doubled the back to front size.

This was always planned – to replace the hinged beater with one that slid up and down the front frame – connected to the original springs so that the beater returns to the up position and is pulled down to beat. To do this I had to make 4 sided open ended boxes, one for each side, then cut a slot to hold the aluminum end pieces of the beater frame.

I waxed the front frame where it has to slide and will eventually fill in the slot where the old front to back hinged beater frame went. The boxes were made from some of the wood that came from the original frame. I only had to buy some screws.

The final job was to make the pegs. I ordered the wooden balls and the dowel came from Lowes. All the woodwork will get a final sand and a light coat of varnish to seal and it’s ready to go. I have begun winding a warp to try it out. More about that later.

Every now and again I get motivated to search through the Internet for images of upright looms, but as yet I’ve not found a match. Dryad’s and Leclerc’s are both similar but sufficiently different to discount them although they do both have a sliding beater so in that respect my loom is becoming more similar. Maybe one day…