# Tell me about carding?



## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

I'm still resisting the temptation to take up spinning, especially with the sweater I'm supposed to knit for my husband still in skeins and gardening season about to start and my housecleaning already getting too short shrift and picking up more hours at my job etc etc etc, but surely just learning about carding couldn't hurt, right? 

I've got sheep (Shetlands) that I shear myself, and I've been sending the wool off to a processor to turn into roving (that a friend spins for me). That can get a bit pricey, so I'm wondering about doing the washing/carding myself. I know a number of folks here do their own carding, but I'm not sure how involved it gets. Not too expensive for the equipment, not too time-consuming or difficult? What do I need to know to get started? How much would it cost me to get started? Any input from you experienced DIY fiber people?


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## holleegee (Mar 3, 2005)

I learned how to card on 2 dog brushes. I raised angora rabbits and used the brushes to groom them and at a show someone showed me how to use them as carders. I eventually bought regular ones but I used my brushes for a long time. This website has a good demonstration on carding...

www.joyofhandspinning.com


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Carding with hand carders would get very tiring and old really quick if you had to do a lot of wool. To me even one fleece would be too much to hand card :shrug: A drum carder would be the way to go for sure if you ask me. I have one that I paid about $500 + for about 8 years ago. It really isn't complicated at all, just time consuming.


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## RiverPines (Dec 12, 2006)

I hand card everything and have tons of fiber I card. It was tiring in the beginning but these days I can sit and card for hours without tiring.
Its my past time along with spinning while watching movies or relaxing outside on a warm day. 

Heck all I do in my spare moments everyday is card, spin, knit. 

My stuff sits right in the living room around my chair and every time I sit down my hands are instantly busy. 

I use the big hand carders for sheep and mohair.
I use dog slickers for my angora rabbit carding. I hand pluck my angora rabbits. I dont brush them.

I wash fiber if its really dirty before carding. If its not that dirty I card it and wash after its spun. I wash all my fibers after spinning whether pre-washed or not. I prefer carding wool in the lanolin and spinning it in the lanolin. No worry of felting. Good for the softness of my hands too!


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

Carding is a wonderful soothing thing to do. dog brushes work well if that's what you have  You can also litterally comb wool with a fine toothed hair comb...one lock at a time. (that's a good way to do "in the grease" wool to make a waterresistant cape)

All it takes is a pair of carders, usually found for $75 to $100 for the pair. You make rollags this way...cigar shaped tufts of wool that you can spin as they are, or put on a distaff so you can have a lot of wool to spin in one chunk.

If you buy Viking Combs, those will give you a different type of spinning experience, and they're really just big nasty looking combs. With those you get fiber that is all one direction instead of around and around like you do with cards.

Eventually, you may want to buy a carding machine. They will run over $300 new. You end up with a nice even roving from using one. 

Washing....that can be pretty time consuming...but you really should do it at least once in your sheep career  Then determine if it's something you can justify paying for or doing yourself.

Basically, after picking dry matter from the fleece, cutting off the dags and nasty bits, you submerge the wool in hot water ....some use soap in the first submerge..some don't. You let it sit for a short time, without stirring, then move it to another tub filled with hot water (squeezing out the dirty water gently). Final tub, with the same temp water as the wool is when it comes out of the 2nd tub, is the rinse. Some people put hair conditioner in the rinse water...some don't.

Then you take it out gently, squeeze it, dry it on drying racks. I put the wet wool in heavy towels and squeeze out as much water as possible, then put it on window screens that are up on saw horses out in the sun. After an hour I turn the wool over once...another hour and it's usually dry.


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Shoot, I hand-carded for years, just this year got a drum-carder. Wow, it is so much faster, plus I like the blending I can do on it. But I didn't hate hand-carding, it just took more time. BUT, that said, sometimes I just love to spin some nice commercially carded pencil roving just for the fun and speed of it. It isn't cheap though.


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

So I could buy a drum-carding machine or use hand carders, but the latter would take a lot more time. If we're talking about doing maybe a dozen fleeces a year with hand carders, does that sound like it would take a really long time? It probably wouldn't be that much since there's someone who wants to buy some of the raw fleece, but just in case...


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I need to apologize. I did not mean to give the impression that hand carding was not pleasurable. I have my hand cards and still use them, I do also enjoy hand carding.

My feeling as posted above was mostly in thinking of how busy Ajaxlucy seems already.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

oh shucks, Marchwind, I don't think anyone thought you were dissing hand carding  Just giving our own varied and occasionally bizarre views 

Thing is, hand carding is something you can teach the kids to do. It's easy to have sitting next to the couch for when you sit down for a cup of tea (or wine  ) in the afternoon. But it's NOT something one would want to do full time if you are looking for speed. nope. I agree there.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I know Ann and thanks you for that. I really didn't want the impression that hand carding was not pleasurable to come across to others. Heaven forbid I should turn someone off such a relaxing thing. 

But, I have to say that hand carding several full fleeces so someone else could spin it is a bit daunting to me. But then again my hand hurts so badly these days just from spinning and that doesn't include and pressure on it :Bawling:


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

Thanks, everyone, for the input. Naturally, the conclusion I'm drawing is that I should look into BOTH hand carders and a drum-carder.

Marchwind, your comment about hand pain made me wonder: I have a bit of arthritis in my hands that doesn't bother me when I'm knitting, but maybe carding is harder on the joints?

Wisconsin Ann, I don't think there's a chance my son would sit down and hand card wool for me. Drive 3-4 hours to pick up chickens for me, yes; sit down and play with fiber for me - not a chance! (Btw, Buckaroo and the ladies are doing beautifully.)


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Lucy check my thread, "I'm having my right hand done" to see just what I'm dealing with. It may help you too! ://homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=294640


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

> Btw, Buckaroo and the ladies are doing beautifully.


OH! I am SOOOOOooo glad  I'd been wondering about them lately. I've missed my birds terribly  But being chicken free for a year is going to be good in the long run...so much less stress since we're still working on the house.

About the arthritis....hand carding uses the wrist more than knitting does..the fingers/hand wraps around the handles of the cards, then you rotate wrist (with some downward pressure on the hands) and a slight pulling motion.

I tend to agree with the others about the time involved, btw. If you've got many fleeces that need to be done quickly, a roving/carding machine will be second only to the "send it away dirty, get it back as roving" option. It IS fun to blend your own wools tho  Adding just a LITTLE oh....GREEN wool or RED wool to an otherwise brown fleece and you can really create an intriguing yarn. And some purple in a black or dark grey is to DIE for!


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## ~NY_Cowgirl~ (Sep 25, 2007)

Where is a good place to buy Hand Carders?? I have looked at several sites but I have no Idea what I am looking for!


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## packyderms_wife (Dec 20, 2008)

With the market tanking a lot of fiber artists are selling their equipment right now so it could be a good time to pick up some used spinning equipment, maybe even in your area. Check out Craigs List and Freecycle (people here have been giving sewing machines away and the like) 

Kimberly


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

Thanks everyone! I found someone who has hand carders and a roving carder (a kind of drum carder, I'm guessing) who said she'll show me what she does with them.


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