Missed the Bar

Actually most of us know it as the back beam. But yes, a while back I once again missed the back beam in the warping process. You would think after 10 years of weaving I would know the correct path the warp must travel to properly warp my loom. I do have an “excuse”!! This was the first warp I put on the loom using the newly installed second warp beam. Everything was just a bit different and this threw me.

I had decided to put on a few short warps to check out the breaking system and see if the second beam would work. Luckily I had picked a group of scarves to be the first project because they are not too wide and they are easy to warp and weave.

Of course a mistake like “missing the bar” is not caught until the loom is completely warped and you start to weave. The small shed is your first clue that something is not right. As you are sitting at the loom bench you start checking the possible reasons the shed is so small and finally you get the back beam. Oops, the yarn is supposed to go over it, not miss it all together! (One of the functions of the back beam is to hold the warp at the proper height on the loom so you get a good opening so you can easily pass the shuttle back while weaving.)

Many looms have removable back beams. It is fairly easy to loosen the warp, unbolt the beam, and then put it back on the loom after you have slipped it under the warp. Unfortunately, the older AVL loom I have is not one of those looms. Yes, I can remove the bars used as the back beam on this loom. But it is not an easy task and it would take a couple of people to do it.

The next option would be to un-thread the loom I just spend a few hours setting up. That didn’t sound like a lot of fun, nor did pulling the warp forward, untying it from the back of the loom, retying it after passing it over the back beam and then winding the warp back on the back beam.

So instead I decided to create another back beam. First I found a short metal bar and wrapped yarn around each end because I wanted to make sure I had a gap between it and the back beam. I then tied it securely to the beam after positioning the warp so it would go over it. The warp was higher than it was before, but still not at the proper height. So I tied the bar a second time to the other bar at the back of the loom. Older AVL’s may not be easy to take apart, but they do give you a lot to work with. From what I hear, AVL has changed the way the bars are secured at the back of the loom so this is not a problem on the newer looms.

With the warp now raised to the right position at the back of the loom I was able to weave the scarves without further problems. So the next time you goof up when warping your loom, take a few minutes and you might come up with an easier solution than starting over.