Located in a private location in Goldsboro, North Carolina
Recently relocated to The Mannings Handweaving School & Supply Center
 |
At Right: Detail view of rocker. Rockers are kept in place on base of loom with thin oak rocker strips, that return them to an upright position when at rest.
|
|
This loom had, until recently, been on an old family farm in Kentucky, near Mammoth Cave. The elderly man who owned it was preparing to move to an assisted living facility and wanted to see the loom placed before leaving. According to him, the loom had been in the old barn loft as long as he could remember (age of four). A local woman took it off his hands but never got around to setting it up. It remained stacked on her front porch until a North Carolina weaver saw it advertised, and made a special trip to Kentucky to obtain it. When she got the loom home and began sorting parts, she was puzzled by the loom's three treadles - since the shedding system was obviously of the counterbalanced variety, which requires an even number of shafts. At first she thought one treadle was missing but, after examining treadle brace and treadles, decided three was the intended number. She contacted me and asked if I'd seen other three-harness rocker beater looms. My answer was "yes, but very few." I sent information and photographs of the only three-harness tie-up I'd ever seen, and she decided rather than take the easy way out and set her loom up as a 2-harness loom, she would accept the 3-harness challenge.
|
|
At
Left: Wide view of front of
loom. The loom is unusual, in that it is designed for 3-harness weaving (note specific shape of treadles). 