Adding weights...

Here is what the threads look like before the weights...

It's not quite as bad as it looks... This is about what it looks like at about the half way point on the back threads...

Up close...I threaded the bundle through the hole on the weight...

I then tied half a knot and

finger chained the rest of the threads to keep them out of trouble...

Finished finger chaining...

Getting closer to having the back row completed...

Back row complete...


Full length view of the back row with weights...

and lastly, the beginnings of my sword beater.

Sword beaters are as hard to find concrete info about as is everything that was made of wood from that time period. The one surviving example that I could find is posted earlier in the this blog and is made of whale bone. It measures at around 15inches. However, since we know that looms came in varying sizes, some of them quite large, it is hard to imagine using a 15inch sword beater on such a loom. After discussion and examination of pictures of what others are using, it was decided that a sword beater around two feet in length would be a good size to start with.