Chechen Wood Swedish Style Boat Shuttle

Chechen is a beautiful wood found in several Central American countries. The trees grow to heights of 50 to 115 feet tall. Heartwood color is highly varied, with red, orange, and brown contrasted with darker stripes of blackish brown. This is a heavier shuttle with an average weight of 112 grams, very dense and hard. I haven’t been able to find much of this and it tends to be expensive when I do!

The shape of our shuttles is consistent and, at this time, are offered in only one size. They are approximately 12 inches long, 1 & 3/4 inches wide and 3/4 inch tall. Weight varies according to the wood variety. All are sanded quite smooth by hand and have two or more coats of Tung oil applied to preserve the wood before final buffing. I like the Tung oil because of the way it soaks into the wood instead of being a coating over the wood. Our shuttles are a Swedish-style boat shuttle. They have a “closed” bottom, hinged stainless steel spindle and come in a variety of woods. They are designed to be used with 5″ quills and have a wide opening to allow for the thread to feed off smoothly when weaving. Quills are often preferable to a common plastic bobbin because they cause less tension on the weft as it unwinds during the weaving process. Unlike many handcrafts in our country, Swedish weavers have kept their art alive for centuries and continue to this day. Their superior handwoven pieces are known and recognized all over the world. Swedish style shuttles, preferred for their smooth, quick action, are used by many accomplished weavers. I have chosen a few different varieties of wood to start with, hand selecting individual boards with pleasing grain structure in the woods that exhibit that. No two shuttles will be exactly alike because of variations in coloration and grain.