Leclerc Bergere Rigid Heddle Loom (24-inch weaving width)
"This loom is strong, tough, beautiful, productive, efficient and altogether a pleasant and rewarding experience to weave a plain-weave structure cloth on this rigid-heddle loom. Assembly Tip: Rub wood-screw stem with bar-soap residue before and when driving screws into predrilled hard-wood with supplied phillips-head-screw-driver. This was the most prohibitive hurdle for me to overcome in assembling the loom. This tip was helpful for me and made it possible. Note: There are four possible configurations for the ratchet and pawl position. The model shows front-right and back-right. All four pawl holes are pre-drilled. I implemented the front-right and back-left arrangement. This allows the weaver to laminate both the fabric-roller-beam and the weft-roller-beam from the outside of the loom. They are also both set to crank preferably if you are right-hand-dominant. Look forward to trying the included boat-shuttle. Picture of cloth: 6-dpi|epi; 8-ppi; fabric-width 12-inch; plain-weave structure; log-cabin pattern (inch by inch squares); knitting #4 100% cotton variegated color yarn (2 contrasting pallets). Tip: A rigid-heddle-slay-hook can be utilized by extending a jumbo-paper-clip. It was on hand and it worked very well for me. This loom frame could also be adapted for tapestry, several lease sticks, or counterbalance. This loom, its structure, is what makes it a great loom to start for a new weaver, given the many adaptations that are possible with this loom. Hint: I set up a 2 or 4 shaft counterbalance harness, manually-controlled, that will work with this loom frame. It can be done. I am a relatively new weaver. The next project I will hopefully implement is an overshot, balanced-twill-lift on this loom. Very enthusiastic. And I would look forward, again, to weaving with the rigid-heddle. It is easy-going, pleasant, and rewarding. Five stars."
