If I need to loosen up the warp a wee bit while it's tied on, I release my brake a tad, and if I've nervous about it moving - I flip the toggle on the ratchet to hold everything while I do my adjustment. To be honest, I'm not sure how it's done on other looms. My David is not a "young" one, so I also don't know if that has changed on newer versions.

I haven't figured that one out yet, Judith - but it is something I've wanted to be able to do as well. If I come up with a clever solution, I will share it. 😉

Thanks. So far I have not come up with anything clever although my husband has suggested a wooden “support” cut to the right height that would sit under the brake bar holding the bar in the up position. I might try that and will let you know how it works. I find it curious that no one has a similar issue given that some other loom manufacturers have a way to do this. There are several situations on my schact loom when I want to keep the brake disengaged.

I'm assuming that loosening the screw on the friction brake, isn't an option your David. My David is an older one and that's something I do whenever I'm dressing my loom or need to adjust something on the warp. I'm still puzzled by your question and haven't seen the new Davids. I look forward to someone coming up with a "Eureka" moment!

Loosening the screw is an option on the new David loom, but it's not a convenient solution. What I would like (and I believe Judith as well) is a way to release the tension briefly on demand - like when you are winding on a warp and want to adjust your packing paper, for example. I have yet to find that "sweet spot" that will hold my warp securely yet still be weak enough that I can turn the warp beam by hand if I want to.