Shaft envy, looming up, and restoring a vintage loom

I really am hoping to document this process here, because it's been a fantastic learning experience for me and I hope to save some time for anyone else trying to do something similar.

I think most weavers have experienced what I refer to as "shaft envy", which sounds dirty, but really comes down to coming across a pattern or structure that is gorgeous, calls their name, and requires more shafts than their loom is capable of doing.  Probably part of why looms tend to breed so much.  While I hadn't even touched the tip of the iceberg on 4 shaft patterns to try, I kept stumbling into 8 shaft drafts that I wanted to do.  For the most part, I pushed it to the back of my mind, and continued to enjoy my Nilus.

I will get into the story later of the ill-fated warping reel/mill another day, but I had approval from Carl to find a warping mill and purchase it, because he wasn't going to make me another.  The biggest issue I'd been having with the Nilus though really was in warping.  Not only was I having a beast of a time getting longer warps on front to back (which I really feel like the Nilus is better suited for) but getting it packed appropriately to maintain tension on the selvedges was proving to be challenging.  So I kept going back and forth - should I try to upgrade my loom to a sectional, or should I look for one with more shafts that might potentially have a sectional or better warping setup?

During my time of debate, I came across a vintage Bergman loom on Craigslist.  $550 for the loom, 36" weaving width, 8 shafts, and it came with a warping reel.  I knew nothing about Bergmans, but I called and set up an appointment to come see it and make sure it would work for me.  I talked to the husband of the couple selling, he made sure I was a weaver, saying that it was complicated to set up and they wouldn't be able to help me after buying.  I explained that yes I was and that should be ok.

I went and just checked it over for damage, it had some reed rust but nothing I was concerned about, so I made arrangements to pick it up.

So now, not only did the loom take over my entire craft room, but now I lost half of my living room.  Sigh.

The new loom mostly "assembled" - unfolded at least to its full size.

Boat shuttles that came with the loom.  The 2 towards the front appear to be Bergman shuttles, from what I am finding around the internet.

A photo of my LeClerc Nilus for size comparison

The Bergman folded flat.  It's pretty ingenius, it gets tiny and is really not heavy.

Me next to the Bergman.  Taller, but with a much smaller footprint than the Nilus, not only in weaving width, but in depth.

The GIGANTIC warping reel, and the extras, including reeds that need some de-rusting.