Most lease sticks I see in my teaching are much too heavy and bulky. This may be the reason many weavers are frustrated by leaving them in during weaving. (See figure.) With the techniques taken from European weavers and industry, there is no reason for the sticks to be so thick and bulky.
Lease sticks should be slender and springyThis is so they can bend easily when there is a tangle in the warp. Heavier sticks that don’t bend can break the tangled ends. Also, thin ones donÕt take up much space behind the heddles like wide ones do. When I began to use Jim Ahren’s lease sticks I was afraid they would break because they were so much thinner and lighter than any I’d seen. In industry the lease sticks are actually thin rods. If your lease sticks are heavy like the typical ones American-style weavers use, I suggest getting yourself some thin ones and saving yourself a lot of grief. |
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Thanks for the tip about thin lease sticks!
When you say “thin” how thin do you mean?
The stick I use are 3/8″ wide and 3/16″ thick–that’s just a bit less than 1/4″ if the 16th scares you off. I believe AVL still makes them. Jim Ahrens said they were made of ash wood if I remember correctly. Ilove them. Peggy