How do I card really fine fibers like alpaca, dog hair, cashmere or merino?
Remember that I have always said the my drum carders will card any fiber. I know it is generally accepted that fine very short fibers (an inch or less) such as cashmere, qiviut (musk ox) and cotton cannot be carded with a drum carder. This is true with other machines because pins are used on both drums. Only the Strauch drum carder comes with the unique “Slicker-Licker” cloth on the infeed drum. These are smooth blades NOT pins! This allows for any fiber to be able to be processed. But….the techniques for handling each fiber is different. For short fine fibers, turn the drum very slowly to allow the fiber to be picked up by the infeed drum and released onto the large drum. If you crank too fast, the fibers stick to the small drum. The problem with fiber under, say one inch, is that you can’t get it off the drum because the fibers have not “locked” together. This is especially the case with cashmere, qiviut and cotton. Cotton is notorious since the fibers are so short. It’s like cardi
