loom picking stick

Picking stick from a power loom, made of wood.

This large wooden picking stick is part of the mechanised process of moving a shuttle across the carriage of a power loom.

By delivering a sharp knock, the picking stick propelled the shuttle at great speed across the loom carriage. Loaded with yarn, the shuttle lays the weft thread of the cloth.

The power to propel the shuttle came from a leather strap wound around the rounded end of the picking stick. The picking stick’s jerking motion fired the shuttle back and forth across the width of the fabric from one shuttle box to the opposite shuttle box.

Much of the distinctive clack-clack sound of the power loom comes from the picking stick striking the shuttle.