{"id":96,"date":"2014-03-28T22:07:49","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T22:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/bl0g\/?page_id=96"},"modified":"2026-05-04T16:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:14:15","slug":"weaving-tools","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/?page_id=96","title":{"rendered":"Weaving Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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News for spring of 2026:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new run of shuttles for 2026 was finished in April. \u00a0There is one double boat shuttle available plus a number of other boat and quill shuttles. \u00a0There are also two recently completed weighted tapestry forks. Wing nut tools are always available.<\/p>\n

Shuttles are mostly constructed of Hawaiian koa and mango, walnut featherwood, tiger and bird’s eye maple, curly cherry with occasional use of figured red& white oak, ash burl, and spalted maple. The ash burl wood turned out to be stunning – it was found by a fellow woodworker in southern Minnesota who was sawing up some fallen ash trees in his bandsaw mill.\u00a0 Some of the most ornate shuttles are combinations of different types of maples – light and dark bird’s eye maple, tiger maple, highly figured curly maple, and maple burl. As usual, figured Hawaiian koa is one of the most beautiful with it’s strong iridescence and banding which constantly changes as you look at the wood from different angles.\u00a0 I picked up strongly figured Hawaiian mango and koa boards a couple of years ago at a lumber yard in Kona, HI.\u00a0 Mango grain and coloration is unique in Hawaii because it picks up colors from the volcanic soils.\u00a0 A couple of newer woods that will be in use for future runs: Mesquite, which I picked up in Arizona, and a small amount of ZiriCote which I discovered in Belize, C.A. a few years ago.<\/p>\n

All of the stainless steel rods in boat shuttles are now 4mm diameter.\u00a0 Quill shuttles use 3.5mm rods, and both 3.5mm and 4mm diameters will hold quills if needed.\u00a0 I use stainless steel alloy #316 (marine grade) for best corrosion resistance.<\/p>\n

Due to the poor quality of 6″ bobbins from Schacht and Leclerc in the last year or two, I no longer buy them to modify for use in my very low-profile 6″ boat shuttles.\u00a0 I have my own 6″ carbon fiber shaft\u00a0bobbins in development which will hold a lot more yarn than the commercial plastic bobbins.\u00a0 I’ll post here again when they become available.\u00a0 You can also use quills in any of the boat shuttles since they will fit on the 4mm diameter rods.<\/p>\n

A further note about 4″ bobbins (personal opinion):\u00a0 I have samples of most commercially available 4″ bobbins, and have found the Ashford nylon bobbins to be the best quality of the lot, and they also hold more yarn.\u00a0 They are about 1\/2″ longer than the other brands (4 \u00a07\/16″ total length), and have narrower shafts. I have no affiliation with Ashford – I just like this bobbin.\u00a0 I have increased the length of the cavities of my 4″ shuttles a little to better accommodate them as of late 2015.\u00a0 The bobbins, because of the narrower shafts, \u00a0also allow a little less shuttle height without the bobbin rims rubbing on the bottom of the shuttle cavity.\u00a0 I wish that Ashford\u00a0made 6″ bobbins.<\/p>\n

Brocade shuttles and rug shuttles are sold out and have been discontinued as requests for them are rare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Happy 2026!<\/p>\n

Jon<\/p>\n

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Weaving tools are made up of 3, 5 (most common), or 7 layers of the following figured woods:\u00a0 curly maple (including bird’s eye maple and tiger maple), maple burl, curly cherry, cherry burl, quartersawn oak, curly white oak, black walnut, quartersawn sycamore,\u00a0buckthorn, and birch.\u00a0 Wood layering is always symmetrical so that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd layers (from the top or bottom) are always the same species.\u00a0 Ten layers of finish are applied to all shuttle types (and tapestry forks)\u00a0inside and out, consisting of blonde shellac, oil-based urethane, and carnauba wax after the shuttles and tapestry forks are final sanded to 2000 grit.\u00a0 Shuttle rods are corrosion-resistant stainless steel (usually #316 alloy).\u00a0 Rods for the boat and quill shuttles operate up& down with the use of a wire spring mechanism which holds the rod in the up or down position.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News for spring of 2026: A new run of shuttles for 2026 was finished in April. \u00a0There is one double boat shuttle available plus a number of other boat and quill shuttles. \u00a0There are also two recently completed weighted tapestry forks. Wing nut tools are always available. Shuttles are mostly constructed of Hawaiian koa and … [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["entry","page","publish","author-shuttle_jonform100","post-96"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2074,"href":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96\/revisions\/2074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canopuswoodandweave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}