I recently acquired a 25" Tools of the Trade 4-shaft table loom. For the most part, it just needs a good cleaning/finish rejuvenation, a new reed, and some heddles. However, there is one mystery.that I am hoping someone can clear up. It has to do with the handles at the ends the warp and cloth beams. The handle design is very simple. There's a hole through the end of each beam. A short length of wooden dowel fits through the hole and acts as a handle. The dowels each have two holes drilled through them. When I got the loom, one of the dowels was in a little plastic bag of extra parts. The other was attached to the cloth beam by a cord running through its holes. All of this is shown in the pictures below.
Admittedly, my loom is a bit of a Frankenloom. It came with a homemade raddle and the little bag of extra parts included three extra levers. The heddles were tangled. It was not tied up properly. The reed, was missing one end and just short of inches wide (perhaps the original reed, broken, perhaps from some other source). So, I am wondering how the handle dowels are really supposed to be attached to the beams. My guess is that originally there was something like a cotter pin, or perhaps a shorter, very thin piece of dowel that went through each of the holes in the handle dowels.
Can anyone solve this mystery? If you own a Tools of a Trade table loom, a picture of how the handles are assembled would be wonderfully helpful.
Thanks!
Debbie
