how do I make cards to clean freshly shorn sheep’s wool?
April 8, 2010 by
Filed under sheep yarn
we want to start producing products knitted by hand. We have available raw sheeps wool recently shorn. We have been told we need to card it, then spin it. Where can we get, or make, the equipment necessary to produce the yarn with which to knit.
Raw sheeps wool has to be handled with care, it can cause health problems in certain cases. While it would be best to buy proper carding tools, you can probably get started with curry combs used on horses or dogs.
do an eSearch on ‘wool processing’ and get result like
http://www.rockysheep.com/links.htm
This looks pretty good
http://www.hjsstudio.com/washwool.html
I have never used carders because they are specialised equipment and not easy to find. I use a metal dog comb to prepare my wool for spinning. Pull small chunks out of the fleece and comb each end to loosen the fibres and separate them a little. I find it is useful to have a flat box handy and comb out a box full at a time. Just lay the combed pieces gently in the box until you are ready to spin. Cover your lap with a cloth because the dirt will fall out as you comb. When you think you have enough combed, then you are ready to start spinning. To spin you will either need a spindle or a spinning wheel. You may be able to make a spindle, but a spinning wheel is something not easy to make.
Did they tell you it needs to be washed first? And dried completely? Dog brushes can be used for flick carding, but hand cards can be purchased from spinning suppliers (as can spinning wheels, dyes and other supplies). Making your own is possible, but it is probably cheaper to buy them rather than make them and carding with dog brushes, especially if you don’t know how to card at all, doesn’t work well, the teeth are not closely enough spaced.
Hand cards run $60 and up, drum carders, small ones, start around $300 and up. Wheels can be purchased (you do know how to spin, right?) for as little as $150 for a PVC Babe Production Wheel, and go upwards from there. Start at babesfibergarden.com, woodlandwoolworks.com, http://www.yarn.com for vendors of these things. However, if you have sufficient quantity (we’re talking, in general, 100 lbs of raw wool minimally) you can have your wool washed, carded and spun for you by commercial mills like Zeilinger’s, Green Mountain Spinnery, or Harrisville Designs for a fee.