Peggy’s Weaving Tips > How to wind pirns and bobbins tight

Wind Weaving Bobbins and Pirns Tight
Wind Weaving Bobbins and Pirns Tight

Winding pirns and bobbins tight allows the weft to come off smoothly. It is imperative that pirns are wound VERY tight or the yarn won’t even come off! (Pirns are the “bobbins” used in end-delivery, or end-feed shuttles.So you won’t burn your fingers while winding these tight bobbins and pirns, feed the yarn over and under the pegs in a tension box. If you don’t get enough tension going over and under all the pegs, wind the yarn around one of the pegs a second time. This prevents burning your fingers even with electric winders. Place the tension box between the cone or spool of yarn and the bobbin winder. A tension box (see illustration) is normally used in sectional beaming. In this case it is being used just to tension the weft thread when winding.Purrington Looms sell an inexpensive tension box for this purpose–it also can fit on their wonderful doubling stand. They built it to my specifications. www.purringtonlooms.com.
I’ve found several tension boxes at weavers’ sales—most people don’t know what to do with them. Good ones that have a pivoting reed for sectional beaming are expensive. You don’t need that for only winding bobbins, so any old one you find should work, or the inexpensive one from the Purrington Looms.

This tip is from Book 3: Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth.

 

 

9 thoughts on “Peggy’s Weaving Tips > How to wind pirns and bobbins tight”

  4. Good morning. I am a Beginning weaver with no teacher or guild close by. I am the proud new owner of a 4s6t cherry norwood stamped 1959. My goal is to weave overshot. My loom has 2” sectional beam and a large spool rack came w my purchase. My first warps , 3yds , r finished on a warping board but my question is : I have been looking at a tension box and how to do sectional and found u. Should I buy one ?? Which brand do u think will fit and/or work for my loom ??
    Question 2 do u have a dvd showing sectional warping ?? And in what degree such as just an overview or in extensive detail. ??

    Reply

    • Dear Miriam. My book, “Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps” has an extensive chapter about how to do sectional warping and the tension box you need. It is available only as a PDF download because the book is out of print. My book, Weaving for Beginners” is just now also available as a PDF download. I strongly suggest you get both. The beginner book is also available in print. During the holidays, I have a sale on my website –if you buy one book you can get another free. Check out my website and see what works for you. For example, if you buy the print version of the beginning book, you can get the book with the sectional chapter for free. I wrote both books just for you. Peggy

      Reply

    • Miriam: PS the PDF of the book with the sectional beam chapter is the only way to get it. Not sure that I made that clear. It can be your free gift. Peggy

      Reply

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