I’ve had a lot of people ask me to do a review on my floor loom which is a David 2 by Louet.
This post is not sponsored or endorsed by Louet, it’s just an honest review for your own information or research.
I have written about this loom and floor looms in general before, and also about what to expect when your loom arrives, but this article gets into the specifics of the Louet David.
I must admit that when I was looking for a floor loom to purchase it was kind of hard to get information on this particular loom. All I really had to go on was a little amount of information on the Louet website.
*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for further information.
I knew that I wanted something compact enough to fit in the smaller space I have and due to my lack of experience with floor looms at the time, I wasn’t confident that a second hand, possible fixer upper would be a sensible choice.
One of the reasons that I was interested in the David is because I live in Australia and there are somewhat limited choices when it comes to looms and most have to be custom ordered and imported.
The Schacht Baby Wolf was a very strong contender in my decision making because it was more familiar to me and it was easier to find information on it.
To further complicate the issue, I had never woven on a floor loom (true story!)
Through a good deal of googling, I had found an agent in Sydney who could order a David for me. Not only that, she and her husband delivered the loom in person and brought it into my home, even though they are from another state! Amazing customer service!
I’m going to be going over the loom discussing a few different features and then giving you my opinions on the positives and negatives. There are not many negatives, but maybe the things that I’d like you to think about if you’re considering purchasing the same loom.
The first thing that I do love about this loom is the compact size. I’ve had it in a couple of different positions in my little studio space, and made both of them work. The weaving width is 90cm (35″) which is a good width for many different projects.
You need a certain amount of space at the front and back of the loom for warping – I think a 1 metre clearance at the front and back of the loom is optimal. You can get away with less, but it may be a little cramped.
The next thing I love about this loom is the quality of make. I can’t fault the quality at all, from the wood, the finishing to all of the pieces that go with it, it’s just beautiful quality and design.
My husband actually put it together for me – I’ll admit that because my brain is not very wired for putting things together and following set written instructions, but my husband is very good at that. He didn’t have any trouble following the directions. It did take quite a few hours to put together, but that is to be expected with a loom of this size ad type.
The David loom comes with texsolv heddles and cords. I personally really love texsolv as it is so light and quiet. Metal heddles can be heavy and noisy, but this is a personal preference and not to suggest that one is better than the other.
Treadling on the David is very light and easy. It is not the least bit clunky when treadling because of the spring system and it’s easy on your body. Speaking of treadling, I like the texsolv tie up system which is simple to learn to use and quite quick to tie up. There is no real “tying” up, you just pop the texsolv cord holes over the treadle screw heads and away you go. The texsolv cording is strong so you don’t have to worry about breakage while treadling.
The David has a gliding beater, meaning that your beater is positioned on metal rods. It “glides” back and forth on the rods, so it is level and steady. I’ll admit that it took me a bit of getting used to. The Ashford table loom I had been weaving on previously had an overhead beater, which is loose and swinging.
The gliding beater is not as easy to use in some ways, as it is rigid and set on the tracks of the metal rods. Now that I’ve been using it for 4 years, I am used to it and have found ways to weave most effectively with it. I do think that once you’re accustomed to it, it does result overall in a more even beat.
One thing that really helped was using a small amount of lubrication on the rods. I couldn’t find much information on whether or not this was a good idea, but to me the beater was feeling quite stiff and not so enjoyable to weave with. So, I applied a very small amount of lubricant with a dry, clean rag. The difference was amazing! I’ve only done this once, and the effects are still felt. The beater now really does feel like it’s gliding. I will likely lubricate at some stage again.
Another way to work successfully with the gliding beater is to find the right warp tension. Too tight and the beater doesn’t glide as well. Just like on any loom, there is a sweet spot for tension that you discover through experience. I am careful when I advance my warp to advance to the spot that feels right for me – not too far towards the front beam or, once again, the beater will struggle and the look of your weaving will suffer.
I advance in small increments and adjust gently towards a firm tension. I hope that makes sense!
This loom came with a 10 dent reed. I haven’t purchased another reed at this point due to the expense and lack of space to be able to store yet another piece of weaving equipment. When I need to use a different sett, I just adjust the number of threads in my reed to accommodate. I very often weave at 20 epi, so I simply double my ends in the reed.
The reed and beater are removable for warping and threading, as is the front breast beam. This is really handy when you get to the threading stage, as you can get in really close to the heddles to thread which saves my back from days of pain afterwards!
One feature that I’ve found particularly great is the ability to put add or remove heddles to the shafts after warping. With my table loom I have to collapse the castle (the upright part of the loom) and tilt it in order to adjust heddle numbers. Not so practical.
On the David, if I have miscalculated the heddles for my project and I need a few extra all I have to do is unhook the texsolv cords on the top and bottom of the shaft, slide the new heddles on and hook the cords back on.
Another feature I particularly like about this loom is the friction brake. I can be weaving away and when I’m ready to advance my warp all I have to do is lean over the side and pull up the friction brake to release the warp tension. Then I use a handle also on the right hand side to advance my warp forwards.
Although I like the friction brake, I do find it difficult to adjust the tension on it when setting up my warp. I need to release the tension to allow the back cloth beam to rotate when warping, but then I need to tighten it right up when I want to begin weaving so that the tension released when I use the brake.
Often when I’m tightening and loosening, the spring that provides the tension will pop off the loom and onto the floor, which is frustrating. I don’t know if it’s just me, but it takes me a while to adjust the spring to just the right amount for my project so that the friction brake engages properly.
Louet looms have a built in raddle, which is a unique feature. It means that instead of taking your warp off the warping board and then taking it to a table to lay into a raddle, then tying the raddle onto the loom to begin warping, you just take the warp from the warping board directly to the loom. When you wind on the warp, you can then tension the warp over the top of the loom, which can be quite handy if you are using weights to assist with tensioning.
I usually have to break up my time placing threads in the raddle, as standing for a longer amount of time wreaks havoc on my back!
You receive a pair of lease sticks and some wooden separator sticks with the loom. I have devised my own methods for using the lease sticks, as initially I found it way too fiddle trying to deal with the sticks while warping and threading. I didn’t have the extra pair of hands to hold the sticks steady, so I now use stretchy bands (like the Ashford bands that they call “helping hands”) and these make a huge difference. I also like to use rings that open and close through the holes in the ends of the sticks to help keep them together and hold them steady.
I don’t tend to use the wooden separators, as I feel that my bamboo blind or roll of craft paper do a much better job of separating the warp.
Those are all the basics of the loom, I could definitely talk about other features but this article is already getting long!
Now, you may be wondering what the cost of this loom is?
Bear in mind that I bought this loom a number of years ago now and I know for a fact that costs have increased since then (thank you coronavirus for increasing the price of every single thing we buy!!)
At the time of purchase, my loom cost around $4000AUD. That included the cost of importing. That price does not include the extras I needed such as boat shuttles, extra heddles, weaving bench etc.
There are also optional extras available like an extra cloth beam (for longer warps), sectional beam and a Louet weaving bench. I don’t have any of these. I use a piano stool as a weaving bench, it’s much more affordable. I am strongly considering purchasing a sectional beam as I love using one on my other floor loom.
Revolution Fibers in the US list a current price from $4,770USD (at the time of writing this article).
In Australia, you can purchase from Thread Collective at a current price of $6,780AUD.
These prices don’t include shipping and can vary according to the rise and fall of the Australian dollar.
If you would like to know even more about this loom, I have a number of videos that will interest you.
This is my first video review of the Louet David which I filmed a few years ago. You get to see the parts of the loom, although some of the information is different to this article as my opinions may have changed over time:
I also have a demonstration to show how quiet this loom is:
And a fun little video that I made not too long after I purchased the loom. It’s nice for me to look back and see how much faster I weave now!
I hope this article has been informative and interesting for you! If you have any questions, please leave a comment below, I love to hear from you 😊
Until next time…
Happy Weaving!