Hello!
I'm a first timer here, but my beloved has been a faithful lurker for months now. I was despairing about this loom she found when she told me that the place to find answers is Weavolution.
We purchased the loom, disassembled, from the daughter of the original owner. He brought it over in 1954 from Denmark to New York where the authorities tried to burn it. It was packed in a straw-filled crate, you see, which made a perfect nest for rats. Apparently at the time policy was to burn anything packed in straw. He threw himself over the crate and told them they'd have to burn him too. They let him go.
He traveled acrossed the country and into Canada, where he settled with the largest group of Danish expats in the world here in Calgary. They all had looms, and formed their own little industry for a while.
The fellow died about a decade ago, and his daughter and son-in-law took pictures of the loom before disassembling and storing it. Eventually we got ahold of it, and I'd been waiting for better weather before I starting restoring anything.
The daughter had the forsight to take many pictures of the assembled loom the aid in reassembling it. Here are the two full body shots.
And here's one that I took of the affixed plate. Apologies in advance for the quality of the pictures. My actual camera went through the drier and didn't survive. These are from a phone.
I know about metals, so that's where I started. I pulled all the metal pieces out and used my Dremel and hand brushes to remove the rust, which in some cases was considerable. I then used the age old technique of rust bluing with apple cider vinegar to help protect the metal and make it look awesome. Some of the bolts were originally painted black, but most of the paint was gone, so I put them through the process as well.
Here's an example of two screws (different sizes) before and after treatment. The before screw here wasn't in the best shape nor the worst shape. I'd say it was the median. (Note that the orange lighting gives everything an extra orange tinge, including the blued screw.)
Here's my problem: I know next to nothing about wood. I know that this loom is solid beech, but I'm not sure what to do with various issues.
Problem 1: The stool.
The stool is incredible. It's the most solid sitting surface I've ever encountered. The trouble is the splitting.
The bottom. The lighter areas with the screw holes are where two wooden pieces were screwed, I'm assuming as a brace of sorts. You can see some splits a the top of the pictures.
The top is separating all over the place.
Problem 2: The knots.
There are knots like the one pictured all over. I don't know if they pose a problem or not, and perhaps the answer will fall in with problem three.
Problem 3: The finish.
Not all the parts are finished. I'm assuming that the bare parts are bare for a reason, but I don't know how to go about refinishing the parts that need it. The finish is not perfectly smooth, and someone I know thought that the finish might therefore be oil/varnish, but I have no idea.
Problem 4: The water damage.
None of the pictured showed it properly, but all the bottom pieces have several centimeteres of the tell-tale signs of water from many moons ago.
You can also see another one of those knots. This is the only one that doesn't have the yellow-ish streaking around it.
Problem 5: Splitting.
Here are two examples of splitting. The one running lengthwise down this beam is by far the worst, but there many of them all over the loom. Is epoxy the answer? Butterly inlays? Alien goo?
Problem 7: The shuttles.
Two of the three shuttles are original, and one of them in particular needs some help. You can see that the metal is well rusted, and I'm not sure how (or if) I can remove it to treat it.
Problem 8: These things.
I don't know what anything on a loom is called, so I call these things the Combobulators. There are two of them. Using my powers of deduction I concluded that there is one for each beam. (What can I say? I'm a mathematical genious.)
The problem I have is that I cannot remove them easily. The bolt comes through from the other side, the nut is screwed onto it, and the tip of the bolt is hammered over, much like a rivet. I could just cut the tips off, but then I couldn't get them back on because there isn't enough extra bolt to hammer the tips over again. These two Combobulators are in horrible shape. The one not pictured has corroded chunks taken out of it. So how do I remove them or how do I rescue them without removing them?
Problem 9: This initial post is unreasonably long. Forgive me. Here's a picture of an adorable lamb to make it up to you. (Yes, I hot linked it like a naughty boy.)
That's about it.
This is the first large-scale project like this I've ever done, and I'm really looking forward to the whole process. I want to do it right, and I'm willing to take the time to learn and do whatever it takes.
My beloved doesn't want it to look brand new, but wants it to have all the original parts and personality while still lasting another sixty years. I'm confident I can accomplish that with approximately a tonne of guidance.
Thanks for your time and for having such an incredible community.
Justin T. Thurn