Home stores should sell perfectly straight dowels - as they should sell perfectly straight lumber but that does not always happen. Take some time to find the straightest dowel the store has. Take it to a flat surface in the store - heavy oak plywood is often flat - and roll the dowel on the flat surface and see that that it rolls flat and does not bump up at any point along its length. It pays to take time to get a good straight dowel.
I thought that this was going to be final solution, but wood is wood and in humid areas and with tension being put on the dowels on the loom, even the best round dowel will eventually warp or bend. I looked at the apron rods that Ashford uses - they are not dowels. They are flat strips of wood. If used with the flat side UP - meaning the edge of the flat wood strip faces the heddle and not the larger flat surface of the wood. I went out and bought a 1/4" thick board in one of the Home Stores. These thin boards are considered "hobby" boards or wood. I cut a strip off of that board as wide as the dowel on my Kromski and I attached it with the existing TexSolv apron cords that I had put on (see the last article). It is very hard to bend a strip of wood along its edge.
I only replaced on dowel with this flat apron rod. The cloth beam apron rod Oak dowel that I replaced the Kromski dowel with has been fine so far. If it ever needs replacement, I have more of the flat board to make a flat apron rod for this side.
It works! It will require someone with a table saw to cut the strip of wood to the correct width and then the length needs to be cut the same length as the Kromski dowel.
What is the width (thickness) of the dowel? Thank you for the helpful advice. I went to a hobby store and the were warped some. I am at a lumber store and forgot the thickness. Lol
ReplyDeleteThe thickness of the dowel is one half inch.
DeleteRobert, do you still prefer the flat 1/4" boards to the dowel rods? How wide is the board that you replaced the dowel with? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYes! I am still using the flat boards instead of round dowels. Attached as I have shown in this article - so that the thin edge of the board is facing the heddle and not as Ashford attaches their flat apron rods - with the width of the board facing the heddle - it is very hard for this board to bend or warp being pulled by the tension of the apron cords - on either side of the loom. The original Kromski dowels are 1/2" in diameter. The boards are 5/8" in diameter (1/8") wider. Within the first year of owning the Kromski the warp rod that came with the loom bent (warped) curving from the center out to the ends. I contacted Kromski and was told that this happened because I put too much tension on the apron rod and it was not the fault of the dowel. I replaced this dowel with a thicker dowel made of Oak. This was 3/4" thick - which I felt had to withstand any tension - and it did BUT the rod was so thick that it brought the warp up much higher off the beam than it should and I was getting sheds that were not going fully closed (flat). I replaced that rod with a 5/8" dowel also Oak and that worked but over time it too warped the same way. That is when I replaced it with the flat board - which I cut on a table saw to 5/8" wide and as long as the original dowel from Kromski was - so that it would fit along side the ratchets and fill the beam. Be aware that the wood sold in home stores even though hardwood - take some sorting through to find pieces that are perfectly flat and straight. Now - I have been doing something else besides using the flat board apron rods. To further prevent uneven tension on the apron rod or the warp, if the width of my warp on the loom is less than the full width, I slip the end apron cords off the apron rod so that only the apron cords that are where the warp is are attached. This way the pull of the warp is even on the apron rod and not pulling in on the ends (which is one way the tension would bow the rod). I like the flat boards a lot - because they lay flat when I wind on - both warp and cloth and don't bump the warp or cloth up on the beam much at all. Sheds open nicely and in neutral the warp is flat - slots and holes.
DeleteI should add - I have since replaced the cloth beam dowel with the flat board apron rod also. That round dowel did eventually start to warp. The flat board I use is oak. More expensive than poplar but much stronger.
DeleteThanks so much for the detail! I'll definitely look into this, as every single dowel at the local Home Depot is warped. Great tip also about slipping the end apron cords off to minimize opportunities for warping to occur.
ReplyDeleteR- I realize this discussion was from 2019 but I’m wondering if you thought about using a metal bar instead of the oak rod… ?
ReplyDeleteI looked at metals rods - I looked at steel and aluminum. I could too easily flex the aluminum rod. The steel rod was much too heavy. Wood cannot bed on its side. It can bend on its face but on its side - try to bend even a 1/4" thick board. It does not budge. This is why I put the board on its side and attached the TexSolv around it - so that it would lay flat when warping and lay flat against the beam when wound on. Ashford uses a flat board as an apron rod but they attach it so that the face of the board is what is facing heddle. I have had an Ashford loom and that apron rod board bends. One other benefit to the wood board as I use them is that it adds almost no bulk to the warp or cloth sides on the beam. With a round dowel - it needs to be at least a half inch in diameter and that is a 1/2" lump under the warp and under the cloth. I also tried an OAK dowel - 3/4 inches as that was pretty strong - BUT it lifted the warp way up on the beam - to the point that a shed was opening in neutral.
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