The Beginning

 The Old Chelmsford Garrison House in Chelmsford, MA, USA has had an old loom up in the attic of one of the buildings for years.  I have often talked about moving it down to an accessible part of the property and setting up for use.  Today, I finally started.  It's a cantilevered 2-harness counterbalance barn frame loom.  Most of the parts are there. It's missing the harness pulleys and some (wooden) screws and the treadles.  Fortunately, my husband, Dan, is very talented in the woodshop, and he'll be able to replace most of the missing parts.  The pulleys will be the trickiest part.


 Today, with the help of our teenage kids, Andre and Baylee, we disassembled the loom and took it out to the grass, washed it down with a solution of Murphy's Oil Soap, let it dry, then brought it into the shed of Garrison House, where it is to be assembled.

Baylee taking the beater out of the attic

One of the sides of the loom.  The bottom is on the left.

The second bucket of cleaning solution

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Washing in progress

Andre carrying the warp beam to the Garrison House.

The process took about 2 hours for 4 people.


The next step is reassembly and some minor repairs and replacements.  Making new heddles is going to be a big task, but that's for another day as well.