Article on Drum Carders

mickitaz wrote

on Jan 11, 2010 9:19 AM

Good day,

 I have been advised that Spin Off wrote an article some time back regarding drum carder comparissons. I have searched your back issues online and I cannot find the issue it was it.

As I am planning on purchasing a drum carder soon, I would like a copy of this article. Could you please tell me which issue this was in? Thank you.

Denise Jackson wrote

on Mar 9, 2010 8:37 AM

Mickitaz,

It looks like the articles are in the following:

ADAMS, Brucie, with Clairine Dunder; see also Brucie Connell
Drum carders: an assessment. Su 91:80–83

askthebellwether wrote

on Mar 9, 2010 2:30 PM

Given that the article Denise found was a while back -- Summer 1991 -- it might be handy to just take a current issue of Spin-off and check through the ads.

The topic comes up fairly often in online forums; the top of the line carders are generally considered to be Strauch and Patrick Green.  That said, there may be smaller makers near you with great machines -- I'm lucky to live in the same area as Duncan Fiber Enterprises and Fricke, who also both make good carders. Duncan's in particular are highly sought after here, I think the quality of their machine is similar to Strauch's.

Denise Jackson wrote

on Mar 9, 2010 2:43 PM

Yahoo's Spin-List had an active discussion on drum carder's recently. May be worth checking out.

mickitaz wrote

on Mar 10, 2010 7:47 AM

Thank you, everyone for the information.

I actually bought a Fancy Kitty Drum Carder back in January. I am quite happy with the results I am getting.

I agree. An updated article is needed. There are many models which have emerged since the last one was written. I think an unbiased approach using comparative models would be very helpful. You may consider the following topics for the article:

Characteristics: The main feature of the model in question which make the drum carder in question different from the others.

Ease of Use: How easy is it to use? How easy it is to clean? Storage possibilities.

Versatility: How managable is the teeth per inch versus the fiber you work with most.

Variables: Are there other options you can add to your carder in the future? Examples may include a different size drum, a motor, protective sheild for gears, brushes?

Again, thank you for the information.

jcgilliam wrote

on Mar 25, 2010 9:03 AM

I have a question about using my drum carder.  I have an old Clemes & Clemes drum carder - the small narrower one - with medium tpi cloth.

I've been using it to prepare some adult mohair that I plan to blend with some Corriedale.  The Corriedale fleece was actually pretty dirty, so I processed that first on 4-pitch combs, and pulled in off in a big "batt" from the combs.  I tried combing the mohair, but it was slow and it didn't seem to want to comb well.  So, I've been teasing the mohair locks on my hand cards, then running it through the drum carder to make a batt.  Finally, I plan to run the mohair batts and the combed Corriedale through the carder again to blend them and then spin semi-worsted.

Two questions:

1.  Do you think there was a faster way?  I can't imagine getting out all the vm from the Corriedale just with the drum carder.  Maybe I could have blended the mohair and corriedale together without carding the mohair separately first, but I worried that the already combed wool might interfere with getting the mohair to open up.

2.  How often do you clean your licker-in?  If I clean it between each batt, it just seems to fill up again right away.  I've read somewhere that second cuts and lower quality fiber ends up on the licker-in, but is that really the case?  The stuff I pull off didn't look so much different than what ended up on the big drum.

Thanks!

Denise Jackson wrote

on Mar 25, 2010 12:17 PM

You can card it. Have your bottle of water/mineral oil or water/fabric softener ready to spritz it for static electricity.

Below is an selection from an article all about mohair. I've found if you sandwich the mohair between wool it doesn't pick up on the licker-in as much. You can pick the longer segments off and lay them over the drum as you go. There are no hard/fast rules that can't be broken.

CARDING MOHAIR WITH A DRUM CARDER. I have used a Patrick Green drum carder with interchangeable drums and also the  drum carder from Strauch & Ashford.  If the mohair has been well picked and is not fed onto the drum too quickly, you may find that one pass is enough. However, more than one pass is generally necessary for a really good preparation. If you are doing color blends Carded Top works great), I like to do just one pass, to keep the colors from not mixing too much and looking muted.   The medium carding cloth, is excellent for the first carding of most mohair. It can also be used for blending mohair with other fibers, but is not suitable for 100% baby kid and other very fine, delicate specialty fibers, which are best carded entirely on the fur drum or spun from picked locks.

I clean my licker-in and drum carder with a long tooth flicker. You can do it with any long tooth brush, vacuum cleaner or the like. I'm getting out the shop vac to get the little bits off: great  suction. You could re-use the little bits if you want (I use it as stuffing for cat toys). You do need to keep it clean as you card because fiber collects fiber.