What is the main difference between the Schacht Baby Wolf and the Wolf Pup LT?

Weaving width and upgrade path. The Wolf Pup LT weaves 18 inches at $1,963; the Baby Wolf starts at 26 inches at $2,386. Both are 4-shaft, 6-treadle, hard maple looms that fold for storage. The Baby Wolf can be upgraded to 8 shafts via the Four-Now-Four-Later conversion; the Wolf Pup LT has no such path.

Is the Wolf Pup LT worth it if I might want more than 18 inches someday?

No. If there is any realistic chance you will want more than 18 inches within a few years, buy the Baby Wolf now. The $423 difference is a one-time cost. Selling a used Wolf Pup and buying a Baby Wolf later means absorbing used-loom depreciation plus transaction costs, a regret pattern that comes up repeatedly in weaving communities.

Can the Wolf Pup LT be upgraded to 8 shafts?

No. The Wolf Pup LT is a permanent 4-shaft loom with no upgrade path. The Baby Wolf can be upgraded via the Four-Now-Four-Later conversion, which adds a second 4-shaft unit to the existing frame and takes total shafts from 4 to 8 without replacing the loom.

How much do the Baby Wolf and Wolf Pup LT weigh?

The Wolf Pup LT weighs 40 pounds and has built-in wheels for moving it. The Baby Wolf weighs approximately 68 pounds (26-inch model) and does not have built-in wheels. For a weaver who regularly moves their loom or stores it away between sessions, the 28-pound difference matters.

Do both the Baby Wolf and Wolf Pup LT fold for storage?

Yes, both fold. The Wolf Pup LT folds to 16 inches deep, narrow enough to stand behind a door. The Baby Wolf folds to approximately 48 by 32 inches, sufficient to pass through a standard 30-inch doorway but not for closet storage. The Wolf Pup's fold is dramatically more compact.

Where can I buy a Schacht Baby Wolf or Wolf Pup LT?

Both looms sell exclusively through authorized Schacht dealers. Schacht does not sell direct or through Amazon. Dealers include The Woolery, Yarn.com, Halcyon Yarn, Gist Yarn, and regional weaving shops. Prices are generally consistent across dealers.

Schacht Baby Wolf vs Wolf Pup LT: Floor Loom Comparison

Q: What is the Baby Wolf's Four-Now-Four-Later upgrade?

Four-Now-Four-Later is a Schacht upgrade program for the Baby Wolf. You buy the Baby Wolf in its standard 4-shaft configuration, then add a second 4-shaft unit later, expanding to 8 shafts on the same frame. The upgrade is not available on the Wolf Pup LT.

Buy the Wolf Pup LT ($1,963, 18 inches) for narrow work in tight spaces; buy the Baby Wolf (from $2,386, 26 inches) if you might ever want more width or 8 shafts. The $423 difference buys 8 more inches, a heavier frame, and an upgrade path the Wolf Pup lacks.

Both are mechanically the same loom: 4-shaft, 6-treadle, hard maple, direct tie-up, folding for storage. Only the Baby Wolf accepts the Four-Now-Four-Later conversion to 8 shafts. Prices verified June 2026 at Schacht’s website and authorized dealers.

Spec	Wolf Pup LT	Baby Wolf (26”)
Weaving width	18”	26”
Price (2026)	$1,963	From $2,386
Weight	40 lbs	~68 lbs
Folds to	16” deep	~48” × 32”
Shafts	4 (fixed)	4 (upgradeable to 8)
Treadles	6	6
8-shaft upgrade	No	Yes (Four-Now-Four-Later)
Wheels included	Yes (built-in)	No
Construction	Hard maple	Hard maple
Dealer-only	Yes	Yes

Who should buy which Schacht floor loom?

The two looms serve two different weavers, and the split is rarely ambiguous.

Buy the Wolf Pup LT if: you weave primarily narrow things (scarves, kitchen towels, table runners, narrow garment panels) and your space cannot absorb a standard-footprint floor loom. The Wolf Pup’s 16-inch folded depth means it disappears behind a door. Its 40-pound frame, with built-in wheels, means one person can move it without planning a lifting operation. At $1,963, it is the entry point for a real 4-shaft floor loom that fits an apartment.

Buy the Baby Wolf if: there is any chance at all you will want more than 18 inches. Kitchen towels at 18 inches are weaveable. Bath towels are not. A blanket panel needs at least 26 inches to make seaming practical. And if you might eventually want structures that need 8 shafts (doubleweave, complex overshot, block weaves), the Four-Now-Four-Later upgrade exists only on the Baby Wolf. The $423 price difference, paid once, is far less than selling the Wolf Pup and buying the Baby Wolf later.

The one scenario where the Wolf Pup LT is plainly correct: a weaver who already owns a Baby Wolf or equivalent and wants a compact second warp station for narrow work. As a narrow production machine alongside a full-width loom, the Wolf Pup is a genuine solution rather than a compromise.

Close-up of warp threads running through the heddles of a floor loom, showing the parallel warp ends under tension with the heddle frames visible above — Warp ends under tension at the heddle: the mechanism both the Wolf Pup LT and Baby Wolf share. The difference between these two looms is not in how they weave; it is in how wide they weave, how much they weigh, and what you can do with them next. *Photo: Tatiana Tochilova via Unsplash. Unsplash License.*

What can you weave on an 18-inch loom?

An 18-inch weaving width handles scarves, kitchen towels, table runners, and garment yardage, but not bath towels, full shawls, or wide blanket panels. The ceiling is real for specific project types, not a technicality.

What works at 18 inches: scarves (typically 7–14 inches wide off the loom), kitchen towels (standard US size is 18 × 28 inches, exactly at the limit), table runners in narrower designs, yardage for garments cut in small pieces, and sampler projects. An 18-inch weaving width is not a toy. Many production weavers make a living on narrower looms, weaving scarves and towels exclusively.

What does not work at 18 inches: bath towels (need 26–30 inches), blanket panels wide enough to panel without excessive seaming, most shawls designed to wrap across the shoulders (need 24–32 inches off the loom), and side-by-side double production warps. Kitchen towels at 18 inches work, but the margin is small; your sett and take-up need to cooperate to land at the right finished width.

The question is not whether 18 inches is a meaningful weaving width. It is whether 18 inches is what you will want to weave permanently, versus what you will weave until you know more. Weavers moving from a rigid heddle loom, whether from the Cricket or an Ashford, often discover after the first year that their project ambitions run wider.

Grouped bar chart comparing the Baby Wolf and Wolf Pup LT across price, weaving width, shafts, weight, and folded depth, each scaled to its own range: the Baby Wolf leads on price, width, and weight, the Wolf Pup LT folds far shallower, and both sit at four shafts — The two looms compared spec by spec, each row scaled to its own range. The Baby Wolf runs larger on price, width, and weight; the Wolf Pup LT's 16-inch folded depth is where it pulls clearly ahead. Both start at 4 shafts, but only the Baby Wolf climbs to 8. *Wool Hall original diagram.*

What is the Baby Wolf’s Four-Now-Four-Later upgrade?

Four-Now-Four-Later lets you buy the Baby Wolf as a 4-shaft loom now and add a second 4-shaft unit later, reaching 8 shafts on the same frame. The Baby Wolf carries this upgrade path the Wolf Pup LT does not. The name is the mechanism: you start in the standard 4-shaft configuration, and when you need more structural complexity you bolt on the second unit. Total shafts become 8, on the loom you already own, without replacing anything.

Eight shafts opens structures that 4 shafts cannot reach: doubleweave on alternating blocks, true 8-shaft twills, more complex overshot blocks, shaft-controlled network drafts. Weavers who start in plain weave and move toward twill and more complex drafts often reach the edges of 4-shaft weaving within a few years of serious work.

The Four-Now-Four-Later is not a gimmick. Schacht designed the Baby Wolf frame from the beginning to accept the extension; it is not a retrofit. The upgrade does add cost and complexity; eight-shaft looms require more tie-up planning and more treadle coordination. But for a weaver who expects to keep a floor loom for a decade or more, the eight-shaft ceiling is a meaningful long-term consideration.

The Wolf Pup LT will always be 4-shaft and 18 inches. That is a design choice, not a defect (it keeps the price and footprint down), but it is permanent.

Warp threads interlaced with weft on a loom showing the plain weave over-under structure of cloth forming on the loom — Warp and weft interlacing to form cloth. Both the Wolf Pup LT and Baby Wolf produce the same basic weave structure at each intersection. The shaft count sets a ceiling on which weave structures are accessible; the loom width sets a ceiling on how wide the cloth can be. *Photo: Karola G (kaboompics.com) via Pexels. Pexels License.*

How much do these looms weigh, and how do they store?

The Wolf Pup LT weighs 40 lbs and rolls on built-in wheels; the Baby Wolf 26-inch weighs 68 lbs and moves as a two-person job. The 28-pound gap and the Wolf Pup’s compact fold are the real practical differences. Neither is a one-handed lift.

The Wolf Pup LT has built-in wheels. Fold the X-frame to its 16-inch depth and it rolls. One person in an average apartment can move it without planning, without a second person, without a dolly. The 16-inch folded depth fits behind a standard interior door or inside a large closet.

The Baby Wolf folds to approximately 48 × 32 inches, roughly the footprint of a large suitcase on its side. It passes through a 30-inch doorway. It does not roll on its own, and most Baby Wolf owners move it as a two-person job when they need to. The typical approach is to set it up in one location and leave it: the fold is for moving to a new apartment, not for daily storage.

For the weaver who expects to move frequently, shares a studio, or needs the loom stored between sessions, the Wolf Pup’s compact fold is a genuine feature. For the weaver who will set it up and leave it, the Baby Wolf’s larger folded footprint is irrelevant.

A historic Jacquard loom at a museum showing the punched-card pattern control mechanism mounted above the large weaving frame, illustrating automated shaft control — A Jacquard loom at the Norwegian Technology Museum, Oslo: the original mechanism for independent shaft control taken to an industrial extreme. The Baby Wolf's Four-Now-Four-Later upgrade takes 4 independently controlled shaft groups to 8. The Wolf Pup LT stays at 4. Neither approaches Jacquard complexity, but the shaft count sets a ceiling on which structures are accessible to the weaver. *Mahlum / Norwegian Technology Museum via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.*

Should you consider the Louet David instead?

Yes, look at it before deciding on price alone. The Louet David is a 4-shaft folding floor loom from a different manufacturer in a similar price range. If the Baby Wolf’s price is the constraint rather than the size, comparing the David to the Baby Wolf is more useful than defaulting to the Wolf Pup LT as a cheaper Schacht alternative.

Which one to buy

Both looms are well-made, both sell at consistent prices through dealers, and both will produce good cloth for as long as you weave on them. The question is width, weight, and upgrade path.

Choose the Wolf Pup LT ($1,963) if:

Your permanent output is narrow work: scarves, kitchen towels, table runners, narrow yardage
Your space genuinely cannot store a 26-inch loom: apartment, shared studio, small house
You already own a wider loom and want a compact second machine
You are certain you will not want 8 shafts or more than 18 inches

Choose the Baby Wolf (from $2,386) if:

You want 26 inches now or suspect you might later
You may want 8 shafts via Four-Now-Four-Later at some point
You plan to weave bath towels, blanket panels, shawls, or wider garment yardage
You are moving from rigid heddle to floor loom and are unsure of your width needs

The most common regret among weavers who chose the Wolf Pup as a first floor loom: buying it to try floor loom weaving without committing, then needing 26 inches within two years. If that path sounds familiar before you have even bought the loom, that is a signal. The Schacht Baby Wolf at $2,386 costs $423 more than the Wolf Pup LT. Selling a used Wolf Pup and buying a Baby Wolf costs considerably more than $423.