tonight we discuss the pros and cons of plain beams and sectional beams. Deciding on the right way to beam is a personal decision, but I give you my opinions and the pros and cons I have found with each system.
I have a sectional beam on my David III. I am learning to wind it slowly. I find its a large learning curve. I use 1 inch sections and its nice to have enough warp on to do as many as you want. If I am doing something small I use my 32" Ashford Tabletop. I bought a cone holder and loads of cones in black and white. If I want a color I use my warping mill and measure it out. It takes longer but it seems to work.
I have a sectional beam. I use the AVL warping wheel. Together they are a miracle, for a short or the longest warp. No need for anything else, such as cone rack, tension box. Warping takes less than half the time. There is perfect order of threads and allows intricate color patterns with ease. I initially was hesitant because of the cost of the wheel, but once I tried it there was no going back. I have never seen a used one for sale, and I suspect this is because of how appreciated they are.
Can I ask if you went for 1 or 2” spaces on your sectional beam….. what I’m thinking is that with the AVL wheel I may as well go 2” spaces seeing as I’m not going to need a huge amount of cones anyway…. Wonder how you are getting on with the wheel
I feel sectional makes complete sense for a production Weaver or one who has crazy long warps. I’m not gonna switch/upgrade to sectional on my current loom as I feel it’s a bit excessive for my 20 inch tea towels where my warp is less than 8 yards. I would love to see how you wind on a sectional beam from your dyed yarn. I understand how you do it from a bobbin stand but not from a skein of yarn
So, i built a crude 36 inch floorloom and fought myself over whether to make a sectional or plain beam. I went with plain. This loom was more of a proof of concept, I have shameless pride in myself for manifesting such a tool! I can't lie, though, I really see myself modding a sectional beam, a tension system and ordering a case of yarn cones.
So I bought two different jumbo yarns from Greengrass... it was so fast and i love the secure feeling of having more than i need. I can feel a sectional beam coming into existence!
I am going to take the plunge and try sectional beaming. I am going to purchase the items that you suggest in your videos. My question is what size cones are best and where do you purchase them as I know I will have to buy more to use this method. Thanks!! I love your videos and play them over and over again!!
Wow! Thank you! What a compliment! The size of your cones will depend on the rack you buy. I buy from Leclerc. I have a couple bobbin racks and I use those when I buy the 1/2 lb bobbins / cones of yarn. I also have a cone rack and I use that for larger cones. It comfortable holds 50 1lb cones of yarn. If you cones are bigger you need to space them out more and then you can’t get 50 on it.
Oh and as for yarn, I often buy from Maurice Brassard. It’s really the same company as Leclerc. Both are run by the same family and out of the same building.
Hello! Thank you for the informative video… I am about to buy a louet delta with sectional beam . I’m trying to decide the most efficient way to feed the beam , like will I buy an AVL warping wheel and use less amounts of cones … or get a big bobbin rack and tension box and go from that to the sectional beam. Will I go 1” or 2” spaces on the sectional beam…. I don’t see myself using more than about 16 ends per inch . I like heavier fabric and I really like efficiency and time saving ways of working. If you have an opinion I’d love to hear it! Thank you so much! 😊 Mary
If you can afford to have your money tied up in yarn, it’s far more efficient to buy a cone rack and tension box. I’ve moved to beaming three inches at a time for efficiency! Good luck and enjoy your new loom!
Do you wind the spools right from the skein winder? I’m guessing I can use a swift… I did use the vertical warping mill , through tension box, first time using sectional- working on purchasing spools for next time. How important is a yarn counter? Thinking if using cone yarn it might be necessary?
As a production weaver I tend to do things a little differently than most. I found that measuring on to spools left me with a lot of waste. In my experience the counters are never 100% accurate. So I just buy enough cones that I have one for every end I need to fill a section. I then measure each section on to my skein winder. I will then dye my yarn and once dry, I slip the skein on to my swift, run it through a tension box and beam. I have lots of videos showing how I do this.
Why is it that you don't need to use paper to separate your warp when using a sectional warp beam? Are there any occasions when you get irregular tension using s sectional warp beam? I'm considering buying an old loom that has one, a Norwood. I didn't even realize sectional warping existed before I was used loom shopping. Is it ok for your only floor loom to have a sectional warp beam or would that be limiting for different yarn types? I'm not seeing anyone using it with thicker yarns. Is it capable of doing that? How thick can the yarn be? I like to test out different things and I don't want to be limited.
You beam with a tension box, so the yarn is equally tensioned. I have never had tension problems since I started beaming sectionally. It’s not limiting at all. The thickest yarn I have used is 16/8 (mop yarn) but you could even go thicker. Personally, I would never go back to a non-sectional loom. I do measure warps differently than I did pre-sectional though. As a professional weaver I but my yarns in bulk and measure straight from a cone or bobbin rack.
Here's how I feel about it. It depends on your looms. Some looms are very difficult to beam one way or another. Many of the looms like the Swedish contramarch looms are very well suited to using a plain beam. You can get in and around them. There are so many varieties of looms made in the US in the 50s, especially "rug" looms that work very well with sectional. Whatever method you use you have to have the space behind or in front of the loom to warp it. I use either the plain beam with heads or sectional, either with a creel and a section box, or in my case a Warping Square. I'm fortunate in that regard because I know how to do both methods and I have two looms that are same. Rather than to be stuck mentally on one method is to taylor the warping method to the project. Weavers are so opinionated and over time I've learned to abandon my ideas and be more flexible. Consider this: unless your making up warps every day and warping your loom you don't do this process as often as the actual weaving which is faster. This is one reason why I put on long warp, usually over 25 yards, and keep a notebook with notes so I can remember what I did the last time I warped. I MAKE myself read my notes before I warp. BTW, with the plain beam and lease sticks, your warping cross stays with you and you can answer the phone or go to the bathroom and not lose your place. IF for some reason I lose my cross I just put the threads end on end back on the lease stick. It's not that slow and it's not that bad. The most important is that nobody should be judgemental about whatever method you use and no matter your teacher etc. be flexible and try another method. Another trick, if you have enough space on your loom, is to spread your warp wider on the beam than what you have in the reed. It makes for much better selvedges. Yes, you can and I do beam with a cross with sectional. The Warping Square allows you to make a cross and running the sectional threads through an AVL section box which has heddles, you can have a cross. I'm a cross believer at both ends of the warp. I hate farting with crossed threads before the heddles. On a short warp you can deal, a long warp NOPE NOPE NOPE, IMHO. You can weave SO much faster with no crosses. I could also say that if you go to higher epi warps having warp maggotry is not what you want.
I used to thread front to back and once I started threading I would be connected by yarn to the loom until I finished the bout I was working on. With sectional beaming it’s back to front and I’m not touching the thread.
