About Jack Looms
What is a jack loom?
A weaving instructor I met a few years ago said, "In the 70's we had jack fever." I remember those years when purchasing a loom seemed to automatically mean a jack loom. Weaving had become very popular, and new weaving shops opened up everywhere. They wanted to sell inexpensive looms, and many new loom makers went into business making table looms and small jack looms. When they wanted to make larger looms, they simply made their looms wider. Beginners liked the idea of the lower price and smaller size. Many of these looms were very small and not very deep, making weaving on them sometimes difficult. Small shallow looms are not as easy to weave on and beginners may find they have problems with poor selvages and an uneven beat. Portability is an advantage of a jack loom. Jack looms are good for taking to workshops, designing and experimenting. They work very well if you are weaving narrow warps, short warps, balanced weaves, open setts and smooth warps.
" ...They are best for experimenting, demonstrations, teaching, designing." S.A. Zielinski vol. 2, p.15
But when you ask a jack loom to weave a combination of more difficult weaving tasks such as a close sett the full width of your loom, or a tight weave with a sticky warp, or an unbalanced weave on more than four shafts, you will encounter varying degrees of difficulty with your loom.
"Tying up a jack loom is very quick and easy." Deborah Chandler p.26
"Single tie-up (jack-type) are easy to set up and adjust, but hard to operate." S.A. Zielinski vol. 2, p.15
There are some things you can do to adjust your jack loom and make it work better, but you also need to learn what kinds of weaving you should avoid. To do this you need to understand how a jack loom works.
Understanding how a jack loom works
A jack loom is sometimes called a single tie loom, as only some of the shafts are tied to a treadle. This simplifies the tie-up, but causes problems in the weaving. The resting shafts which are not tied to the treadle and cannot be controlled by the weaver. They must be heavy to stay down against the pull of the warp.
A jack is the part of the loom which is attached on a pivot and is used to raise a shaft. There are usually two jacks for each shaft. When you press on a treadle, the jack pivots, one end going down and the other up, raising a shaft. Shafts only move up and so a jack loom is sometimes called a rising shed loom. Jacks can be placed under the shafts pushing them up, or can be above the shafts on a castle pulling them up. Retaining the castle makes a better loom, but having the jacks under the shafts allows the loom to be made without a castle, making the loom much shorter and lighter weight. The disadvantage of the jacks being under the shafts is that the shafts need a structure to hold them. Often the shafts move in groves in a shaft frame. Ties from treadles to lamms need to be perfectly vertical, keeping the shaft frames moving in the exactly correct manner, for the system to work. This system can collect dust and needs to be cleaned and lubricated. Hanging shafts avoids this problem and hanging them eliminate any extra friction from such a shaft frame.
Workshop looms, made for folding and transporting to workshops are jack looms. Although these small looms have limitations, they are portable and are designed for learning.
Styles come and go, and when the jack looms were designed, modern meant low and compact. Today we are more accepting of the advantages of a castle. In her 1961 book, Harriet Tidball wrote:
"The handsomest of all looms is the push-up jack loom with no superstructure. With four or six harnesses this loom is one of the most satisfactory, but for a loom with eight, ten or more harnesses, there should be overhead jacks." Tidball p.8
"Present day loom builders, with few exceptions, make the harness motions an integral part of the loom frame and so deny the weaver the facility of changing easily the type of harness motion according to the nature of the job...Unfortunately, this does not usually permit modification except by a complete rebuilding of the loom frame." Fannin p.80
Shafts are held down on jack looms by their own weight. This weight comes from the shaft frame, metal bars and metal heddles. The manufacturer of your loom has planned on their weight when designing the loom. Each loom manufacturer needs to decide how heavy to make the shafts. If they are too heavy, the weaver will find it difficult to raise them, especially when a treadle is tied to more than 2 shafts. If the shafts are too light, the resting shafts will not stay down when a shed is made, since the warp threads, when tensioned will be pulling them up. This can be complicated by the weight of the treadles, pulling on the lamms and causing the shafts to move up. This is especially true if many treadles are tied to one lamm as in unbalanced multiharness weaves. Often the shafts need varying amounts of weight when an unbalanced weave is tied up.
"This kind of shed can be very large or smaller depending on the pressure there is on the warp threads and how many threads we have. For example, it will be easier to have a nice shed with a 36" loom with 20 threads per inch than with a 60" loom with 40 threads per inch. Here you have to understand that we may have to raise half of the threads; so the more threads and tension you have the more difficult it will be to raise them." Francois Brassard www home page
"Unless you are strictly interested in fairly light-weight multi-shaft weaves, you should not get a jack loom for your only loom. It is not as versatile as the other two types. It is unsuitable for rug weaving and many tightly packed weft-faced weaves, and light-weight jack looms are undesirable for close warp-faced weaving." Rachel Brown p.120
"These looms should be used only when the cost of equipment is of primary importance because a double-tie-up loom although more expensive is much more satisfactory, and if necessary it can be used as a single-tie-up." S.A. Zielinski vol.2 p.13
"A loom is a piece of equipment designed to facilitate the textile process. There is little pleasure and no profit in trying to weave on a loom that will not do its share of the work willingly, accurately and easily." Mary Atwater p.30
The noise made by a jack loom comes mainly from a jack loom which does not have a castle. The shafts make noise when they fall onto the jack box, as the shaft frame and its metal heddles shake as they hit. There usually is some cushioning foam here to muffle the noise. The lower beater also makes noise when it lands on the upright on its return. This also can have rubber bumpers to help soften the noise. Sometimes other family members are more aware of this noise than the weaver.
"The large number of moving parts contributes significantly to a high noise factor.... the noise simply must be accepted as a part of the mechanism." Fannin p.83
" The noise of harnesses returning to their resting position can be quite an item if you do not have a loom room away from the rest of the household." Thorpe p.16
To make weaving on your jack loom successful, learn which weaves are difficult for your loom to weave and how you can adjust problem sheds.
Weaves which are difficult for a jack loom to accomplish
If your loom is large, wide, or has heavy shafts, most fabrics can be woven with little difficulty, although more pressure is required to do the treadling than is required on other types of looms. If you do not weave the full width of the loom or you do not have many threads per inch, you will be more successful. You will have more problems on a shallow loom (one which is less than 40" deep). The most troublesome things to weave on a jack loom are tapestries, rugs, warp faced and weft faced weaves, fuzzy warps and close setts such as with doubleweave. You may also have trouble with unbalanced weaves such as summer and winter and other multiharness weaves where many warp threads are threaded on one harness and many treadles are tied to this lamm. There are a number of things you can try to help alleviate problems when weaving these, but the jack loom is not the best choice for weaving some of them.
Part of the problem is that the weaver only controls the top of the shed when pressing the treadle. The rest of the warp is on the bottom of the shed and it is unaffected by the foot pressing on the treadle. So, threads that stick together are a problem as the treadle will not separate a sticky shed. Jack loom weavers have been known to push shafts down with their hands and this should not be necessary. The bottom of the shed is often looser than the top of the shed. Tightening the tension to attempt to get more tension on the bottom of the shed means the top of the shed is tighter making the shed smaller. But the bottom of the shed is still looser than the top. Add to this heavy shafts, and the treadling is tiring. And having to press so hard on the treadles can mean you will be uncomfortable on your bench. These more difficult warps may require some adjustments to your loom.
"Right away you can see that a warp of extreme tension may not be stretched on this type of loom - making it unsuitable for tight weft-faced weaving, especially rugs. Besides this limitation, there is the fact that the rising action of any harness (or harnesses) does not force the opposite action of other harnesses..... For this reason a close-set warp for warp faced weaving may tend to lift all the harnesses when one is raised.... The loom is, however, superlative for light weight multiharness weaving....I suspect the jack loom is losing its popularity somewhat to the ancient counterbalance loom and counter marche loom." Rachel Brown p.120
"A very tightly stretched non-resilient warp (such as for rugs) can cause the shafts to float.....adversely affecting the shed. Additional weights can be added....but unfortunately... that weight also must be lifted.....In general, the action of a jack shed is lighter in a loom which lifts the shafts from above than in a loom which pushes them up.... however, both are considerably heavier than a counterbalanced or counter marche shed, a serious consideration...." Constance LaLena p.31
On rug weaving: "Because a highly tensioned and often inelastic warp is being used, it is far easier to obtain a given depth of shed with a system that raises some shafts and lowers others than with one that only raises shafts. In the former, the shafts have only to move two inches above or below the normal warp line to give a four inch shed; in the latter, they have to move four inches above the line. In other words, a counterbalanced or countermarch loom is very suitable. When at rest, the shafts of a jack loom are so positioned that the heald eyes are below the line from breast to back beam. To keep them in this position, when a highly tensioned warp is being used, they have to be specially weighted. Otherwise they will rise and decrease the depth of the shed." Peter Collingwood p.52-53
Treadling on a jack loom does not control the size of the shed as it does on counterbalance and countermarch looms. So when you need a larger shed, you must loosen the tension on the warp. But a looser tension may not be what you need. A warp which tends to be sticky needs a tight tension, so some adjustments will be needed.
Creating a smooth weaving rhythm
Rhythm in weaving which comes from smooth, even, fast weaving, can be achieved with most looms with practice. But the loom must have clear sheds, a tight tension and easy treadling. This is best done with a one shuttle weave and by tying up the treadles so that you alternate feet while treadling.
Several characteristics of a jack loom must be considered when you want to weave with a good rhythm. One is that the shuttle race might be in the way. Placing the shuttle on the race and throwing it along the race can be awkward and difficult to adjust to. But if you take the shuttle race off, you may have to weight the shafts to get a tighter tension on the bottom of the shed to support the shuttle. This makes the treadling heavier and that also affects your rhythm.
Treadling a shed which has more than two shafts tied to it, or one with heavy weighted shafts, can be tiring as more weight needs to be lifted. It might be better to have lighter shafts and to weight them only if more weight is needed. But light weight shafts can affect your weaving rhythm too, as sometimes light weight shafts fall too slowly. This is because they are not tied to the treadle used to make the next shed. They fall only because of their own weight.
The following quotes will give you an idea of what others can achieve with a good rhythm. It is easier to do this on a counterbalance or countermarch loom and with a simple weave structure. The size of the weft thread will make a difference in the amount of yardage woven.
"He must be able to weave on a narrow warp (12 to 20") plain tabby at a speed of 60 picks per minute. Check it with your watch. If the loom refuses to work that fast, don't buy it.... anybody can weave 2 yards per hour." S. A. Zielinski vol.2 p.9
At 20 wefts per inch, this would be one yard in 12 minutes. That is a fast pace most weavers could do only for a short time. It is possible to do it, but only if the loom is easy to treadle.
"...it would not be unreasonable for a skilled weaver to be able to maintain a sustained rate of 1500 picks per hour over the length of the warp including time to advance the warp, wind shuttle bobbins, and make any necessary repairs in the weaving" Constance LaLena p.30
At 20 wefts per inch, this would be 75" or just over two yards per hour. This is another weaver who has a lot of experience and I am sure she could easily do this. So, give it a try. Get a timer and see if you can develop a rhythm which will make you more productive. But with the heavier treadling on a jack loom, and especially if you are weaving wide, do give yourself frequent breaks and don't expect this kind of efficiency.
"Among all hand looms the single tie-up jack-type is the most universal....If built for narrow warps it is not too heavy in operation. But it is a hopeless proposition when economy of time and effort come into consideration. If it is (universal) the weight of heddle frames must be such as to meet all emergencies, which means much too heavy for ordinary weaving." S.A. Zielinski vol.2 p.11
Achieving a larger shed, better selvages, avoiding warp skips and preventing broken warp threads.
These are common weaving problems with small looms. The simplest way to get a large shed on a jack loom is to loosen the tension, but that can create poor selvages. Tightening the tension makes the shed small and causes warp skips.
"Because of the position of the closed shed below the warp line, there is a tendency for the shafts to "float" or hang suspended on a tight warp. Such a condition is the major cause for warp skips when a tight warp is woven with this shedding motion." Fannin p.80
To understand this problem, note that the shafts on a jack loom need to be resting several inches below the breast beam. When a shaft is raised, it must rise to a height which is the same distance above the breast beam. The tension must be kept loose in order to keep the resting shafts down, and this makes it hard to throw a shuttle. This gives the shuttle the opportunity to catch threads on the wrong side of the shuttle, causing skips and floats in the weaving. It also results in poor distribution of the weft and poor selvages. Wide warps exaggerate the problem. It is also difficult to weave weftfaced weaves as every other warp thread is loose.
To make the tension tighter, improve selvages and to keep the shafts from rising, you will need to weight the shafts, or use some other method to adjust your loom. To achieve better selvages, you can weight your selvage threads with a weight attached between the back beam and the warp beam. The selvage threads should be beamed with the rest of the warp to keep it in place. The weight makes the selvage threads tighter than the rest of the warp. If this tighter thread makes the shafts rise, then take these threads out of the heddles and use it as a floating selvage. Having to deal with a floating selvage is better than
You may have heard that jack looms are harder on warp threads and cause more broken ends. Resting shafts hold the warp threads down with the metal heddles. As warp threads are raised, they loosen as they reach the center of the shed. Then they tighten again as they reach the top of the shed. The constant loosening and tightening of the warp threads creates a snapping of the warp, which can cause some stress. On a jack loom, when a warp is not treadled, it is at maximum tension. This can cause extra stress on the threads.
When you are not weaving you should loosen the tension on the warp as there is added stress at the point where the threads are held in the metal heddles. And when you are weaving, advance the warp frequently to change the position of the metal heddles on the warp. If broken threads occur at the selvages, use a temple.
On counterbalance looms, the warp is traveling straight back to the back beam. When a shed is made, there is no snapping action; it just gets a little tighter. And to make a shed, the threads only move half the distance that they move on a jack loom.
Loose tension on the bottom of the shed does not support a shuttle very well, so the shuttle can easily fall through the warp threads. Because of this, a shuttle race is added to the beater of a jack loom to hold the shuttle. This can interrupt weaving rhythm as the shuttle needs to be placed on the shuttle race and the shuttle race can get in the way of your hand. Counterbalance and countermarch looms do not have shuttle races unless they have fly shuttles. This is because the bottom of the shed is very tight.
The list of adjustments will give you some ways to solve these problems. Don't blame yourself for your weaving problems, but rather, try to find a solution for your loom.
Adjustments you can make to your jack loom
When you start weaving, look for ways to adjust your loom to achieve clear sheds and easy treadling. Weave a couple inches, put on a temple (stretcher) to maintain the width, and adjust the tension to get a good separation of the warp threads. Open a shed and feel the tension on the top of the shed. Then feel the bottom of the shed. The tension should be the same. If it is looser on the bottom of the shed, you may need to try some adjustments to your loom.
The following suggestions will be helpful when you are weaving difficult warps. Try them in the order given, until you have a clear shed, sufficient tension and easy treadling.
Note: These suggestions are for jack looms. If you have a counterbalance or countermarch these adjustments are not necessary. For more information, read Types of Looms
- Treadle tie ups may need to be adjusted to get a
better shed if the top of the shed is uneven.
If some threads are being raised too high, determine which shaft is rising too high, untie the cord or the treadle attachment and make it longer. If the shaft is not rising high enough, shorten the tie. Check each treadle to make sure that all the shafts rise to the same height. If the lower part of the shed is not even, the problem must be solved with numbers 4 or 8. Treadle tie ups cannot adjust the bottom of the shed.
"The most objectionable feature of nearly all looms of this type is not so much the lower speed and therefore inferior performance, but the impossibility of adjusting the lower part of the shed." S. A. Zielinski vol.2 p.30
- Tie up your treadles to raise only one shaft and
treadle with both feet at once.
If you are working with a warp that doesn't want to separate when you press on the treadle, either because it is a fuzzy warp, or is sett very close as with double weave or warp faced weaving, you can try tying the treadles each to only one shaft. Then treadle one at a time, raising fewer warp threads with each foot. This will separate sticky warps more easily but it would then be slow to weave and would interrupt your rhythm, It also takes longer to memorize the treadling sequence, so you might want to try some other adjustments first. For very difficult sheds, try using a batten to clear the shed and hold it open.
- Treadle springs can be added to keep the weight of
the treadles from pulling on the lamms, which then push
the shafts up.
These springs are very easy to install at the ends of the treadles. You will need to add a rod to the back of the frame where the shafts are. From this rod you attack one spring for each treadle. These springs hold the treadles up and sometimes this is all that is needed to have a better shed. After you begin to weave, attach the springs which are needed to keep the shafts from rising when they are supposed to stay down. You may not need to attach all of them.
- Adjust the height of the beater.
On some looms the beater is made so that it is adjustable in height. On a counterbalance loom, the beater is positioned so that the warp threads pass through the center of the reed. On a jack loom the warp threads rest on the bottom of the reed. Jack looms have shuttle races because the weaving is done on a looser tension and the shuttle race is needed to support the shuttle as it is thrown
The lower part of a jack loom shed is sometimes not even. You cannot see this as the beater corrects the difference. The bottom of the reed and the shuttle race are holding all the threads up to one level. The beater must be high enough to hold the threads up. If the bottom of the shed will not stay down and some threads do not lie on the shuttle race, raise the beater. If the beater is holding the warp threads too high, the resting shafts will rise. In this case the beater should be lowered. If the beater is too high, the reed may be adding too much friction to warp threads. If you are working with fragile threads, you may want to lower the beater and place a smooth dowel under the warp threads directly behind the beater. It needs to be at a height which holds the warp threads just above the bottom of the beater. This will decrease the amount of friction put on the warp while beating.
"We shall risk here a statement that the reason why so little weaving with fine yarns, single linen, etc. is done in North America is that there are too many jack-type looms on this continent. S.A. Zielinski vol.2 p.30
"One of the most serious disadvantages to the push-up system is the wide gauge required.......well over 2" per shaft. A set of four shafts occupying a space of 6 1/2-7" is not uncommon." Fannin
You might also add foam rubber or a cushioning material under the first and second shafts, so that they rest a little higher than the other shafts. This will help to even the bottom on the shed so that you can lower the beater. It may also lessen the wear on the threads and alleviate some of the noise of the shafts falling down to the jack box.
- Extend the back of the loom to increase the depth
of the loom.
On some looms this can be done very easily by replacing only one part of the frame on each side of the loom. On other looms it may not be possible without major carpentry, but it is worth a try if your loom is shallow. Any extra depth that you can get will give you a better shed and easier treadling.
"The frame should ordinarily be longer from front to back than from side to side, to provide ample weaving space. If the frame is very shallow it is impossible to weave more than an inch or two without releasing the tension and winding up the web, which is a nuisance. Also undue strain is put on the warp when the sheds are opened." Mary Atwater p.32
- Raise your back beam
This can be helpful if you cannot make your loom deeper. It is easy to check to see if this will help by simply checking your tension. After beginning to weave, press down on a treadle and feel the tension on the top and the bottom of the shed. If the tension on the top of the shed feels tighter then the bottom, then loosen your tension. Add a stick onto the top of your back beam, and re-tension your warp. If this makes the tension more even, tie the stick securely to keep it in place and continue to weave. You can try different thicknesses of wood, but be sure that the stick is very smooth. Many very old counterbalance looms had the back beam several inches higher than the breast beam for more comfortable weaving.
- Leave your lease sticks in the warp near the back
beam.
Lease sticks are left in the warp near the back beam by many weavers. This makes it easier to repair broken threads but it also eliminates any twists in the warp, allowing the sheds to open more freely. But if your loom is not very deep, there may not be enough space to leave the lease sticks in. They will shorten the distance from the shafts to the back of the loom. If you have twists in your warp, insert the lease sticks periodically and wind your warp forward, carefully easing the sticks along to take out the twists. Then remove the sticks and rewind the warp onto the warp beam. You can try to place the lease sticks between the back beam and the warp beam, but if you have some twists in the warp, it may not work to leave them here. The next time you beam your warp, beam with the lease sticks left in the warp. Beam the warp with tension as great as you will have when you are weaving and ease the lease sticks along as you wind the warp on.
- Adding weights to your shafts can be helpful.
If your resting shafts will not stay down, you can tie a metal rod onto the top of the shafts which need extra weight. These can be added even after you have begun to weave. The added weight should be removable, as your next warp may not need it, or it may be needed on a different shaft. This extra weight results in more difficult treadling, as you will be lifting more weight. Heavier shafts may also be more wearing on fragile warp threads.
If you have extra metal heddles, you can put them on the shafts, an equal number on each side. You must put them on before you begin threading the loom, so you need to know which shafts will need the extra weight. This is easy on a balanced weave as you can put an equal number on each shaft. On an unbalanced weave, add them to the shafts which hold the most threads and are tied to the most treadles.
Another way to weight the shafts is to use an extra treadle. The treadle can have a weight added if the treadle is not heavy enough. The shaft is attached directly to the treadle, which must be one of the center treadles. This treadle is not used for weaving, except to pull down a shaft if it doesn't fall all the way down. If your jacks are beneath your shafts this may only work on the first or last shaft.
Note that some jack looms already have heavy shafts.
"Single tie-up jack-type if used at all, should have adjustable weights attached to each heddle-frame....the more heddles on a particular frame, the more weight." S.A. Zielinski vol. 2 p.13
- Adding springs or bungie cords at the bottom of the
shafts can help to hold them down.
If you have trouble with a shaft on an unbalanced weave, this can be a good solution as sometimes the added weight on the shaft isn't enough. You can attach the spring just to the shaft which needs it. If your loom has jacks under the shafts, you may only be able to do this to the first or the last shaft. If the jacks are at the top of the loom, installing springs is very easy and they can then be removed when not needed. This is important since you will have to treadle against this spring, making the treadling harder for that shaft.
"Power looms using a positive spring return for lowering the shafts do not have to be concerned with this (heavy treadling) because there is enough power available for overcoming the added resistance. On a foot-powered handloom, anything that makes the shedding motion heavy and slow to operate works against the weaver....Weights, therefore, seem to be the best solution where springs would render the harness motion too heavy to operate." Fannin p.80
"Use a double tie-up, i.e., tie a cord direct from the harness frame that you wish to remain full down to the treadle that is in the full down position. (When this treadle is then depressed, it will raise the frames you have normally tied up and also drive the additional tied harness frames down.). Use of any of the above procedures will cause the treadling action to be heavier and slower." Leclerc p.21
- The use of a temple will solve some selvage tension
problems and make beating easier.
Preventing draw-in by using a temple not only keeps your selvage warp threads from breaking, but allows you to beat in your weft without so much force. Without a temple you are beating against the drawn in warp threads, which are holding the beater away from the fell line. This alone can solve some problems. Temples are recommended for all weaving except tapestry and some warp faced weaving.
- Remove the shuttle race if you want to develop a
better rhythm.
If your shed is clear, you have heavy shafts and a fairly tight tension, try removing the shuttle race. If it is an added part of the beater, simply remove the screws which hold it on. If it is a solid part of the beater, you would have to have a new piece made for the lower part of the beater. On some looms you may also simply turn it around,
- Difficult warps can be sized.
A warp that you know will be difficult to weave because it is fragile, fuzzy, or a hand spun yarn, can be sized before it is beamed. Gelatin, hide glue, cooked flax seed or cooked cornstarch can be tried. If you have a warp which is already on the loom, you could try a soluble oil, spray starch, silicone spray, or Johnson and Johnson's No more Tangles. With linen water is helpful.
- Weight the beater.
When you want a tight beat, you can place a metal rod under the beater to add weight to the beater. This weight should be removable. A weighted beater may not necessary if the suggestions above have been tried. For instance, it is more important to use a temple, than to weight the beater.
The suggestions above are to be tried only after you know that you have put your loom together properly and that all parts are in good working order. Metal parts should not be dirty or rusty, the frame must be securely assembled square and tight, set up on a flat floor and all the wooden parts are smooth. Warps must always be centered; extra heddles if left on the shafts must be divided equally so that there is the same number of heddles on each side of the shaft. Heddles need to be put on properly, and use no more than 10 metal heddles per inch per shaft. For more than this, Texsolv heddles are recommended. Warp tension must be the same all across the warp. Contact the loom maker if you think there are problems with the loom. Most companies supply replacement parts even for discontinued looms.
A word about benches
When you weave on a jack loom you will need to put more pressure on treadles. And when you are raising many shafts or many warp threads, you tire more quickly, and are less comfortable on your bench. Make sure the bench is the right height for you. Read Comfort at the Loom. Try padding your bench and make sure to place the bench as close to the loom as possible so that you are sitting on it and not teetering on it. If your bench is not close enough, you will be off balance as you are trying to press down on the treadles and you will not be in a good position for weaving. You should also tie up the treadles at a good height for you. Learn to make yourself comfortable during all phases of weaving.
"A bench seat that is part of the loom and stretches its full width is preferable to a separate stool." Peter Collingwood p.52-53
Bibliography:
- Atwater, Mary, The Shuttle-Craft Book of American Hand-Weaving, Macmillan Publishing Co, Inc., NY, l928, l975
- Brassard, Francois, Leclerc Looms
- Brown, Rachel, Spinning, Dyeing and Weaving, l980
- Chandler, Deborah, Handwoven Magazine, March l988
- Collingwood, Peter, The Techniques of Rug Weaving, Watson-Guptill Publishing, NY, l969
- Fannin, Allen A., Handloom Weaving Technology, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. NY, l979
- LaLena, Constance, Handwoven Magazine, Sept. l984
- Leclerc, Robert, Warp and Weave, Nilus Leclerc Inc., Quebec, l979
- Thorpe, Heather, A Handweaver's Workbook, Collier Books, l956
- Tidball, Harriet, The Weaver's Book, The Macmillan Co. NY l961
- Tovey, John, The Technique of Weaving, Scribner, NY, l965
- Zielinski, S.A., Robert Leclerc, ed., Master Weaver Vols 1,2,6, Nilus Leclerc, Inc.,1979
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