Week 7 Lab Data: Group C

Group C Lab Data:

Hannah Angerman, Beck Arnow, Sagal Ahmed, and Emmy Belloni

For this week’s lab, we were supposed to be pit firing our loom weights however the lab was rained out. Instead we continued woodworking in the Archaeology lab and we finished the final pieces of our frame for the loom. Although this lab was unusual, we were able to accomplish a task and improvise to make the space and tools work for our purposes.

Since we were inside, woodworking looked slightly different from when we were doing it outside. Being inside proved to be slightly more challenging because we lacked space and had to be more careful about making a mess with wood shavings. We also did not have the same tools or tools of the highest quality.

List of tools used:

Clamps, chisel, mallet, draw knife/shave, planer, knives (not true carving knives), bill hook, electric drill, sawhorses, small saw

For the lab we were separated into our three groups and split into three different stations. One station worked on finishing the chiseling of the top beam of the loom. The second station worked on using the planer to refine the heddle rods and other pieces of the loom. The third station worked on shaving bark to make extra heddle rods in case we ever wanted to weave a more complex pattern. Lastly, people who were not actively working on the larger pieces helped to refine pegs and shuttles with small knives. 

In each of the stations, one of the main challenges we faced was how to stabilize the larger pieces of wood. In my group we ended up using clamps and bodyweight to stabilize the small log while stripping the bark. Without the sawhorse, it required more people to keep the log still enough to effectively take off the bark. At the chiseling station, we stabilized the log on the ground and sat over it to stop it from moving. At this station we also drilled a hole into the log, although this went much faster with an electric drill. Carving was more difficult during this lab because we no longer had proper carving knives. The carving was often slower and less refined because of the quality of our knives. Although there were more challenges working on the wood indoors and with fewer tools, we improvised well and were able to achieve similar results compared to the previous week. 

At the end of the lab period, we were able to successfully assemble the loom. Although it was unfortunate that we did not fire pottery, this lab allowed us to see our hard work come together in the form of the finished loom frame. This lab was unusual, but it allowed us as a class to improvise and work together, much like people in the past may have needed to improvise when faced with unexpected challenges.