It is no secret that I love my tapestry forks/beaters with metal tines. Many people make them with dog combs. The metal tines slide through the warp easily and if the handles are shaped well, they provide a nice snap for work on tapestries large or small.
Tapestry forks left to right: Magpie Woodworks, Thomas Creations (Threads Thru Time) big and small, and Timber and Twine.
Over the years I’ve purchased many tapestry forks from Magpie Woodworks, Thomas Creations (Threads Thru Time), and Timber and Twine. These are beautiful hand-crafted tools and every tapestry weaver should have at least one of these in their toolbox.
But I have had so many students who were unable to get one of these forks or had to wait many months just because when a tool is hand-made one at a time, it takes a long time to produce them and more people want them than can get them. I have been hoping for years that a larger tool manufacturer could make a good tapestry fork using metal tines that could be made at volume and priced lower than a hand-turned tool is.
Schacht Spindle Company stepped up in a big way. They started working on this tapestry fork at least two years ago and asked me for some input on their prototypes. I was more than happy to help their engineer work through his ideas with tips about what tapestry weavers would most appreciate. I tested a box full of various options which were fully realized tools* so I could tell how they would work. I had ideas of what I wanted and definite preferences for which of the options worked the best for both high warp and low warp tapestry looms.
The result is the Duet tapestry beater which is now on the market. I was happy to see so many of the things I loved about some of the prototypes realized in the final product.
Here is what I look for in a tapestry fork/beater:
smooth tines
tines spaced to accommodate the warp setts I weave at
a long enough handle to give the tool a little snap without a lot of effort
balanced in my hand
smooth and easy to hold on to
not too heavy (There are people who love weighted beaters and they have reasons for this. I don’t have any need for a weighted beater and it is a risk to my body to use one.)
This is what Schacht came up with.
Schacht Duet tapestry beater/fork
Specs of the Duet Tapestry Beater
Width: 1.75 inches at the head; tail of the handle is 1.125 inches
Depth: The beater is a little more than 1/2 inch thick
Weight: 2.17 ounces
Length: 8.5 inches
Tines: The fork comes with two sets of tines. One is 7 tines per inch (tpi) and the other is 11 tpi.**
Pricing: The Duet is currently (2025) $45. A comparable hand-turned and hand-finished fork from one of the other small manufacturers I’ve mentioned are between $70 and $140.
Changing the tines
See below for my thoughts on this feature, but the tines are easy to swap out. Here is a short video of how to do it. All you need is a Phillips head screwdriver.
My assessment of Schacht’s Duet Tapestry Beater
I will say first that I do not have an affiliate agreement with Schacht and I don’t get any financial gain from recommending this product. I was one of their testers of this tapestry fork, but I would not recommend it if I didn’t think it was a good product.
I really like this tapestry fork. It works well, it is a nice width for tapestries of a medium size. I would not use it for a very tiny tapestry. My tapestry diary pieces are often just 2-3 inches wide and at a very close sett. Though you could use this beater in a pinch for that, I find that a much tinier beater or just a tapestry bobbin works best for tiny things. I have used the Duet on pieces from about 4 inches wide all the way up to my very large tapestries.
Do I like having two different tines that are interchangeable? When I reviewed the prototypes for this beater I didn’t think it was necessary to have this feature, but now that I have this tool in my hands and have been using it for awhile, I love that I can switch the tine spacing. I use the 7 tines per inch spacing a lot as much of my work is 8 epi and this spacing is appropriate for those warps. But when working at much finer setts like the 16 epi parts of the double sett tapestry I’m weaving for Change the shed, the 11 tpi tines are really nice to get the finer weft packed in nicely.
Tapestry fork questions
Do my tapestry fork tines per inch have to match my warp sett?
I am frequently asked if the tines per inch of your tapestry beater has to match the sett of the tapestry. The answer is absolutely not. These numbers do not need to match up. What is important is that the tines have enough space between them that whatever warp you’re using does not get caught in that space. You could never weave a tapestry using 12/12 cotton seine twine (fairly thick warp) at 8 epi with a beater with 11 tpi tines. The warp won’t fit in the space between the tines. But with the Duet, you can just switch to the 7 tpi option and your 12/12 warp will work just fine.
How heavy should my tapestry fork be?
The answer to this depends on the weaver, how you weave, your goals with a tapestry, and to some extent, the equipment you’re using. I don’t like heavy tapestry forks. I used to be an occupational therapist and I think a really heavy tool presents a danger to your body in the form of a repetitive strain injury. As long as the handle of the fork is long enough that I can get a little snap to it, a lighter beater works well on both low warp and high warp looms. But I also weave most of my large tapestries on a low-warp loom where the warp is parallel to the floor. I don’t think anyone would advocate a weighted beater on a low-warp loom!
Some people also like to beat their tapestries so hard that the fibers can’t compact any more. This has advantages in terms of following a cartoon but doesn’t work well with the wefts I like to use. I also don’t like the fibers to be so compacted because they lose some of their ability to reflect light and look a lot flatter. This is all part of the personal choice around how you make your art and what images you are producing.
Are there exceptions to this “long handle” tapestry beater preference?
Absolutely there are. If you’re weaving small things on little looms, a very small beater will work just fine. Generally you’ll be putting in small amounts of fiber at once and you don’t need the long handled-snap I’m talking about.
The image below has a few different small beaters. The Magpie Woodworks beater at the top is for scale. From left to right, Threads Thru Time (Thomas Creations), a plastic beater that I think comes with a Schacht product, Handywoman shop small beater, Sketchlooms 8 epi beater.
Maggie fork from Magpie Woodworks at the top. L → R: Thomas Creations, plastic hair pick, Handywoman Shop, Sketchlooms at 8 epi.
My favorite of these is the one to the left, the Threads Thru Time mini beater. This is my backpacking beater and the one I use on any small sketch tapestries. The plastic hair pick beater is one that came in a kit I think from Schacht but I’m not completely sure. I don’t like how light it is and recommend something sturdier than this plastic if possible. The Handywoman shop tiny beater is cute and portable, and the Sketchlooms beaters come with different tpi and are also useful for small hand-held things. My preference for tiny weaving is the narrower beater though. It is easier to weave in shapes with something that is not so wide.
Have you tried the Duet yet? Let us know what you think in the comments.
*Did you catch that? Schacht makes full functioning tools as prototypes and then tests them for a long time before something ends up in production.
**Schacht lists these as 8 and 12 on their website—they’re the same ones but careful measurement gives you 7 and 11 as the 8th and 12th tine are the start of the next inch. This matters not—they work well.