# FINally........



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

I have a drum carder.


When we arrived at the cottage manufacturing facility in Downing, Missouri.....and saw it for the first time, I realized for certain that I had come to the right place. The drum was almost twice the size I had envisioned.
Then after the tour and half an hour of sharing experiences, etc., they knocked 40 bucks off the price.

Some days, things just go well. :shrug:



















Please forgive the lighting. In the second pic, above, take special notice of the young man on the right...... He will likely be the chief drum operator.
Here she be in a bit more well lit glory.
I think the man said the teeth were 90/120 ?

(....and, yeah, that's a bit of wool from my white Lincoln ewe, on the feed, already....couldn't help m'self :whistlin: )


----------



## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

Congratulations!! Now to see what you spin with that glorious fiber!!


----------



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Who is it made by FR? Looks nice and shine clean! May I suggest you only card clean (not in the grease) wool. You will gum up the teeth and it's expensive to replace the carding cloth.


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

It's a Little Tom, Fancy Kitty, they call it.

A fellow in Missouri and his wife and a hired man make these and wool pickers.
He has several sizes and configurations of carders, and, being a woodworker myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the tour they gave me of the entire operation.

He has a lot listed on Ebay, if anyone wants to check things out a little further.

Apparently, I was the first customer who came to pick up in person. 
....and, the first to offer cash in payment. :huh:

They invited me back, anytime (it is just a hop off the beaten path to Rutledge, Mo, which is one of the biggest and oldest hillbilly fleamarkets in the country  ) to visit or maybe even tour the fiber processing room inside (time was a little of the essence, yesterday, so....)

I hear yuh on the carding of clean wool, only.
I knew that, see, and that is why it was such fun to tease Cyndi about having run so much lanolin through hers as to assure her that it will never need lubricated again. :bouncy:

Sometimes I'm evil, that way.


----------



## Miz Mary (Feb 15, 2003)

Oh my , that looks FUN !! Cant wait to see what ya do !!


----------



## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

I'm seriously jealous! A carder is the next thing on my wish list...


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

knitting skills? check

piles of fleeces? check

industrial sized flyer and bobbin? check

big o' carder and kids to crank it? check

a long winter ahead? check

Looks like you are about ready to to get busy.
Just need to finish confabulating that new wheel and you will be good to go.


Its about time.


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

I even quick-washed a spot of my ram's black fleece today. 

I put a double handful in a pot on the woodstove with a spot of shampoo, let it soak/cook (by no means too hot, though) for a few minutes, then rinses hot several times.
It smells nice now, drying above the stove in a perforated stainless restaurant pan. 
I should have just enough to fill the drum wheel once, to see how big a batt I be making, now. :bouncy:

Then there are three batches of clean wool up in the fiber room. :huh:

Indeed there may be pics of a sweater in me own wool before Chrimmas. :thumb:


----------



## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Oh congrats! I am also somewhat jealous!
I would love to have a drum carder. 

One day....when I get rich.


----------



## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Thank goodness you finally posted this! I was about ready to bust at the seams keeping quiet about it!

Sweater by next weekend, did you say?


----------



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I think you're going to need more sheep. You'll use all your fleece up in a hurry with that! congratulations!


----------



## DragonFlyFarm (Oct 12, 2012)

Beautiful carder -- I'm more than a bit jealous. Had to giggle when you said it was twice the size you were expecting. Big carder, big needles, big sweaters......you go!


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Matthew has been hand carding rolags and cranking them onto the carder, on and off today. He's drawing off the 4-500 ounces I washed the other day from the black Rambouillet.
Haven't filled the drum yet. :whistlin:

I did just finish the body and lapel on an even more elaborate cardigan/robe.
Stitches are picked up for the first sleeve.....

The CAM is gone for a week or two, again. 
Pics above compliments of Dawndra, the kindly neighbor/homesteader a few miles north of me, with whom I went to the Amish/Mennonite grocery in Cantrell, Iowa, immediately followed by picking up a carder in Downing, Mo.


----------



## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Curious .. why hand card them first?

Isn't that the point of the drum carder? 

Well, yes, you can use it for blending ... and you need to pick the fibres open with your hands before putting them through the carder, but why hand card first and then drum card? Too much time spent on the tines will damage your fibres ... in addition to being a lot of work.


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

My experience, limited though it be, is that a drum carder doesn't appreciate those tight little snags and dreadlocks, and that it does really appreciate those fluffy little rolags that come off the combs........ :shrug:


Am I gunna hafta stay after school and write anything over and over and over on the chalkboard for this one ? :ashamed:


----------



## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Nah, we won't make you write lines.

But you might want to try fluffing the fibre by hand, using a dog comb to flick the ends open if need be, then running that through the carder. Then peel it off the drum, split it into three segments, and put it through again.

Quite often that's enough to get you good results! MUCH faster, too. Which, in addition to blending, is the point of a drum carder.


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

I recall with a fond sense of satisfaction, the first time I ever pulled a full batt of my own wool off Cyndi's carder. She was looking on, wishing that I was as interested in spinning, but taking what she could get in that I was at least getting ready for that end. :whistlin:

I recall how the batts changed, slowly, over time, from a rather coarse and somewhat lumpy thing (still lofty and wonderful, but.... ) slowly transforming into true works of art.
Now the hand carder makes a fine little bundle of fluff, but, for me, that big, lofty, uniform batt is a prize to behold.
I don't mind the extra "work" with hand cards, using them to do the hand work that you speak of..... but, I would be interested to hear your thoughts as to how the fibres might be damaged. How would said potential damage affect the final product in heavy, multi-strand knitwork ?


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Oh, I know this one!

By over carding you can get fibers that break into smaller segments.
Then the yarn made from them pills up and puts out a lot of silly little bumps on the surface.
Those bumps collect lint and make the knitting look ugly.

It is most likely to happen with fine fleeces like rambo/merino.
You have to treat those fine wools with a gentle hand or they will go all lumpy and pilly.


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Maybe I should just switch to Suffolk. :sob:


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

You are just learning! Gosh.
Plus Matthew needs practice.
A lot of the breakage can be eliminated by working the cards very SLOWLY. 
You cannot bash those skinny fibers around or they break. 

Honestly, if you get ahold of a rolag and sort of dissect it, you can SEE if it is getting broken up.
You can HEAR the fibers breaking too.


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Would combs be preferable over hand cards, for the purpose in question ?


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Naw, fine wool needs carding. 
The teeth on combs are usually too far apart.

Just go slow. Be sure the wool is really clean and the tips are open before you send it through the drum.
It isnt a race to crank it off. 

There is really no way to actually learn this except by practice. 
You really can hear if the fibers are breaking, if you are listening for it.

I am sure you guys will do fine.


----------



## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

The place for a comb (in this case) would be to flick the tips open if the locks are a little matted. And I don't mean wool combs, I mean a regular comb, like a metal people comb (though a metal dog comb is better suited to the job, as it is tougher).

That would be the step GAM refers to as "be sure the wool is really clean and the tips are open". You floof the fibre apart in your hands, and if it won't floof, you give it a quick flick or two with the comb. Then it can go through the carder.

The more open it is, the better ... but making a rolag then drum carding risks breakage and neps and noils, as mentioned. But you really do need it opened up nicely. That's a fun job, really, and one done best by human hands with the occasional addition of a judiciously applied metal comb.


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Well, me an' Bumble (Matt's nickname has always been "Chumly Bumble" :shrug: )
finally got that batch of wool all carded up. Ended up with perzakly one pound....and it sure _looks_ and _feels_ nice. It came off in two batches, so I guess it's safe to say the carder will hold a half pound of wool, easy..... (neither batch was a full carder) 

How will we know if we ruint it ?


----------



## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

If when you look at the batt there are lots of little wee bumpy bits, like the noils on raw silk fabric, then you've overcarded.

If it looks smooth and has maybe just a few spots where tips didn't get opened up fully or whatever, and a bit of VM here and there, you did fine. (And you could probably pull out the lumps and VM and run it through once more to get it nice and smooth.)

If it looks nice and smooth ... well, yay! You're done!


----------



## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Forerunner said:


> Well, me an' Bumble (Matt's nickname has always been "Chumly Bumble" :shrug: )
> finally got that batch of wool all carded up. Ended up with perzakly one pound....and it sure _looks_ and _feels_ nice. It came off in two batches, so I guess it's safe to say the carder will hold a half pound of wool, easy..... (neither batch was a full carder)
> 
> How will we know if we ruint it ?


I will venture to say it is totally ruined. 
Based solely on the fact that there are NO PICTURES! How can we help you if you don't show us???


hehe....
I really would like to see your pound of yummy wool.


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

It _does_ look smooth. :buds:

Pics will be forthcoming just as soon as me wife and cam-operator gets hum with it. She's visiting her family, up north....and spoiling her sisters with Lily. 

In the meantime.......one sleeve down on this divinity I've been working on.:spinsmiley:


----------



## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I agree with MamaJ ... totally ruint and you need to send it here!

Actually, would you like to borrow the picker to help open those locks up? It's pointy and real dangerous. I'm sure Bumble would get a lot of new badges of honor (ie cuts and scrapes) with it.


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Truth be known, the Ram(bo) is a pretty clean and open-fleeced fellow.

Now that's not to say that I don't have several 50 pound sacks of stuff that might do well to be introduced to the picker..... :heh:


----------



## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

Hope yr getting LOTS of PRODUCT made and the carder hasn't eaten the two of you by now. :gaptooth: We'll all be needing our FIX as soon as the cam gets back!


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

The carder has been resting these last few days, as I have given myself over to processing scrap metal and hauling manure. 

Glamorous, eh ?


----------



## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

:bouncy:GOOD! Now you can buy a BACKUP cam...............and none of us will have to end up with WITHDRAWLssssssss :bored:


----------



## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

_THAT'll_ be the day........

(my favorite John Wayne quote.  )


----------



## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

Thanks for getting that Don McLean song stuck in my head now!!! THIS'll be the day........


----------

