Each thread is now taken separately through the comb-like instrument. The cross-stave is laid upon this, so it is well to put it in place now, and carry the threads alternately in front and behind it, whilst passing them through the comb. The threading of the strings through the comb decides the number there will be to the inch, so they must be put through at the required distance apart.
The upper roller is next given a complete turn, which will make the metal pin and the threads that are round it secure in the groove. The winding up must be continued until only about three inches of the warp-string hang below the lower roller. Some kind of tension must be applied to the threads whilst this winding is going on, or it will be done irregularly; a hand, or several hands, holding it, answers the purpose well enough.
The next process is to fix the threads securely in the lower roller. The difficulty here lies in getting the placing and tension of the threads between the two rollers exactly regular and even. If some were slack and others tight it would be very awkward to correct afterwards, and impossible to weave upon properly if incorrect.
[Fig. 178] shows a practical method by which the warp may be fixed in the lower roller, but any contrivance will do that gains the required result. To carry out the fixing as in the diagram, the roller must be turned so that the groove comes just at the centre in the front. Four lines of warp-thread are then fixed from end to end of the roller, two above and two below the groove. Each warp-string in turn is now threaded in and out of these cross lines, as shown in the diagram. This places them in regular order, at the correct distance apart, and keeps them at very nearly the same tension throughout. The metal pin is now placed in the groove and pushes the threads before it. It must be temporarily made firm there by string tied round the roller at intervals.
The next process is to tie the warp-threads in knots, either two or four together, just where they emerge below the pin. This prevents any giving way, and if the threads are pulled just equally tight immediately before the knotting, the tension of the entire warp will be the same. The lower roller is next turned round until the metal pin is made quite firm in its place by the warp-threads passing across the face of the groove. The warp will now be fixed in the loom as shown in the drawing in [fig. 170].
The placing of the coats upon the coat-stave is the next part of the preparatory work. Commence by fixing a line of warp-thread along the exterior side of the coat-stave, making it secure to the bar at both ends. The coats, encircling the stave and a thread of warp, are fixed to this string by a kind of buttonhole stitch (see [fig. 179]). It is important that each loop should be of exactly the same size; this can be ensured by temporarily fixing a rod across the loom at the point where the loops will encircle the warp-thread, and then taking the loop round this bar as well as round the thread.
