My new Ashford Drum Carder

[Deleted]

Hello Everyone,

I order my Ashford Extra Wide Drum Carder before leaving to go to Florida.   I pick it up at the Fab Fiber within the first couple of days of being their... I decided to wait until coming home to open it up.. Now isn't that being patience. Smile...

Now to read some more about carding and watch a couple of UTube videos... I am so excited about creating my first Batt... Any tips you Veteran can share with a rookie??? Smile.

feltingandfiberstudio.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/ykbgbcjsgkoyuo6jhkws.jpg

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[halay]

Wau, congratulations on your new carder! Looking forward to seeing your first batts.

[zed]

Chainmail gloves

It took me a while, but making batts for scarves and using fine merino, I realised that if you put wool tops through 'wispy' end first, they go through neater/smoother.

A bit of a cheat-if you're blending commercial wool tops/fibres that are neatly/finely combed, you can hold the tops over the big drum while you turn the handle, move them across to get them on evenly, and shuffle your grip back as you do it.

If a big clump gets caught, just let it go through and either take it off next turn round or see if it'll just even out, don't stop turning or reverse or pull.

If you want to blend some coarse/texturey wools with finer wools, put the coarser ones through first for a quick comb, especially if it's scoured wool which hasn't been combed. And go a bit slower.
Then blend the two how you want.

[MTRuth]

If you are using unprocessed wool (washed at least), then make sure that you pull the clumps of wool apart. The process is called picking and makes the clumped bits fluffy. You can do it by hand but it takes time.

This isn't a fast process, so don't expect it to go really quickly even with a nice drum carder. Your carder looks wonderful and have fun.

[Pandagirl]

Have fun!

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Judy, I recently learned how to make batts from a drum carder, thanks to Marilyn’s help. Here’s the link to our Studio blogpost: feltingandfiberstudio.com/2015/03/06/learning-to-use-a-drum-carder-to-make-batts/

So now you have a brand new drum carder, a spinning wheel, and lots of new fiber. We are expecting great things!  

[Shepherdess]

congratulations. my advise is don't feed to much in at a time. You should be able to see the in feed tray through the wool. Oh and don't worry if some of the wool is getting stuck on the infeed drum.

[koffipot]

No, I'm not going green with envy! Enjoy your carding, look forward to seeing your results.

[Deleted]

Thanks everyone for all your wonderful advise. Greatly appreciated..

Thanks Cathy for the URL for the studio blog post. I had not seen it.. I did not get to use the internet much while I was down in Florida..