thinking about making a carder.

[laurenisme]

thinking about making a carder to do the whole process of making wool but as i dont already own one i was wondering if anybody knew of a wood pattern to make a carder??

id say the wood part itself wood be pretty easy but i dont know what the teeth part is made out of or looks like so im not sure what to substuite it with.

also i dont know the differences between carders so i dont know which would be best to copy as i am a beginner.


already found a pattern for a drop spindle,they look pretty easy to makE!

[knitasha]

It is variously called carding cloth or card clothing, and includes both the backing material and the steel pins.

Here is an online source:
http://www.pointshop.com/Mall/Catalo...000029291.html

If you look at the prices, though, they are not much less than buying ready-made hand cards. I live in the U.S. and I got my nice set of small hand cards on eBay from a woman in Scotland! The total price was less than buying the cloth alone.

I would encourage you to make your own spindle. It's easy and the handmade ones work well enough to let you know whether or not you enjoy spinning.

About fiber: buying a raw fleece and going through the process of cleaning and carding it is an investment in time and money that you may not want to make at this stage. And you end up with an enormous bagful of one type of fiber, which will take ages to spin on a spindle. May I suggest that you buy just a few ounces of several types of prepared (already combed or carded) fiber, either dyed or natural, and try those to see what suits you best? I don't know any sources in Ireland, but one good U.S. source is paradisefibers.com I don't know whether they ship internationally, or what the shipping costs might be, but they sell many varieties of wool, silk and other fibers for just a few dollars an ounce.

[laurenisme]

yea that seems like a good idea, the reason why i was thinking about buying a fleece is because i hear farmers are nearly paying people to take them.my boyfriend's dad has a farm and used to have sheep but got rid of them last year so im a little too late.

and as im a poor student i thought that making everything that i coulld reduce the cost, but i guess it doesnt really work like that.
i think i might just save up to buy some roving and see how that goes.

thanks for the info!

[Plantgoddess+]

I recently started spinning and purchased my initial supplies from Paradise Fibers. They recommended some corriedale and bfl wool for starting out. It is about $21 a lb for those 2 fibers in natural color. I am enjoying spinning with both of those, I bought a lb of each so that I knew I had plenty to make most anything I wanted.
They have a wide variety of fibers and I had a great time going through their spinning room fondling them. I find them very nice to deal with and will definitely go back.
They sell their own brand of carders and combs though I am not knowledgeable enough to know how they stack up against other brands for price or quality. I did watch a video on their site on using combs that looked quite comprehensive.

[knitasha]

It's not completely essential to comb or card fleece for spinning. You can spin directly from individual locks. If the farmers are giving the fleeces away or even paying people to take them, I'd take one and wash it. It takes a bit of skill to spin from the lock, but not much more than spinning from roving or a batt. If you join a spinners' guild you might be able to sell some of the fleece to other members and use the money to buy more roving or spindles or hand cards.

[mullerslanefarm]

knitasha is correct. Proper scouring of a fleece, then hand picking open the locks will create a beautiful yarn!

[Tia]

I found this site about making a drum carder. Unfortunately it doesn't have pictures.