From Flip to Floor

I am now the proud owner of a Nilus Leclerc 4 shaft floor loom! The loom was part of the collection of a local farming museum, but it did not meet the criteria for the collection; being less than 60 years old. 

Here is a picture of my 15" heddle from my Flip loom laying on top of the shafts for the floor loom. The floor loom is 36" so I should be able to make some HUGE projects with doubleweave. 

I took apart the loom and shined up the wood. I took every wire heddle off the shafts then burnished the metal bars with fine steel wool and then rubbed them a drop of oil. Thanks to Steve at Twist Knitting & Spinning for giving me a few hints about the heddles. He told me to thread a blunt end needle and draw the thread through groups of heddles then tie them into bunches before removing them from the shafts. A lifesaver!

I somehow managed to sley the reed and thread the heddles. The reed that came with the loom is a 5 dent. It is huge! I'll definitely need to get some finer reeds. 

In addition to the loom, I also got all the random parts and pieces that went with it when it was donated; arm loads of stick shuttles, a basket full of bobbins, 5 boat shuttles and several skeins of hand spun linen. 

Here we go..........

Happy Weaving!