Separating a Double Coated Wool Fleece video

These are the technique I use to separate the two coats in a double coated fleece...one using our wool hand combs and the other using our wool comb and hackle set. 

Wool Comb and Hackle Set Drawing

Wow! Has it really been a month since I last posted??? This summer is flying by! Anyway, there are several new tutorials which I have not had a chance to post here but they can be found on the Tutorial page of our website.

July 1 thru August 3 BMH is having a Wool Comb and Hackle Set drawing!! Yep, you could win a 4 Pitch Comb and Hackle set with Hybrid comb made in oak and mahogany. See our July Newsletter for details on all the prizes (we have 5 prizes we're giving away) and the drawing.

There have been several updates in the shop since I last posted here and we are now carrying Lap Aprons to use when spinning or using wool hand combs. Also I have lots of new smooth hand pulled rovings in the shop that are lots of fun to spin!!

Blue Mountain Handcrafts website

2 Pitch Comb & Hackle Set Tutorial

Okay, I know I said I wasn't going to post another tutorial until May but Eric had to go and create a new tool set and totally screw up my schedule. I think he did it on purpose, he's rascally that way you know ;) So, we'll be combing with the 2 Pitch Comb and Hackle set in this tutorial. For specs on the 2 Pitch set please see the listing in the shop. For the most part, it is exactly like combing with the 4 Pitch Comb and Hackle set so I won't be going over a lot of the Basics or techniques........please refer to the previous tutorials on the Comb and Hackle sets for this information. !

The 2 Pitch sets do not have recessed clamp areas. Your hackle should be clamped to the edge of a good sturdy heavy table as shown. Remember, if you can't hold on to the hackle and pull the table the hackle probably isn't clamped tight enough. Having the hackle come off the table while combing is not fun........don't ask how I know this! !

The 2 Pitch Comb and Hackle set is well suited for shorter fibers (3 1/2" and shorter) BUT will comb longer fibers as well. Due to there being only 2 rows of tines, you may have to make an extra pass or two to remove all of your vegetable matter if is there quite a bit of it. For this tutorial I decided to comb a cormo lamb fleece with a 3" staple and some lovely Pygora fleece with a crazy long staple of 7+ inches when stretched out. !

We load the 2 pitch hackle the same way we do the 4 pitch. I'm treating the pygora much like I would alpaca and loading a little less (volume wise) on the hackle than I would if I were combing wool since it's not "springy and poofy". Fibers that are not "poofy" are easy to overload on the hackle in which case you get more waste than is necessary so it's best to not load as much. Again, we comb from side to side and reload just like we do with the 4 pitch set. !

With the cormo lamb's fleece I pack the hackle about half way when gently pressed down, fluff it up and comb. I forgot to mention in the other Comb and Hackle tutorials that with the finer wools (merino, cormo, rambouillet, etc) you can get nepps.......little pills or balls of wool.......when combing. To minimize this, or eliminate them all together in some cases, do the initial combing off the hackle first. After you have all the wool on your comb lightly mist it with water before loading it back on to your hackle. You will probably have to do this a few times as you are reloading the hackle. You do not want the wool wet just barely damp. Our tools have stainless steel tines and will not rust so it is not necessary to add anything to the water. The static electricity created from the metal of the tines and the action of combing causes the fine wools to "spring back" toward the tines causing nepps. I have no problem with nepps when I keep the fiber lightly misted and it dries quickly after dizzing. !

Dizzing off the 2 Pitch hackle is the same as dizzing off the 4 pitch, start in the bottom right hand corner and work your way across and up. Remember dizzing does take practice and some fibers are easier to diz than other so don't get discouraged! !

With both the Pygora and the Cormo lamb fleece I loaded 1 oz onto the 2 Pitch hackle. The pygora had almost no vegetable matter but did have a few matted places due to me not being able to keep my hands off it when I was washing it, it's lovely stuff! The Cormo had some vegetable matter as the lambs weren't covered. Both fibers were clean and beautiful after 2 passes (combed off the hackle and reloaded=1 pass) and each had exactly .02 oz of waste and .08 oz of spinnable gorgeous fiber.

Wool Comb and Hackle Tutorial Part 1: The Basics

And so we begin the tutorials for the comb and hackle set. This first one will cover the basics (set up, loading, combing, dizzing) and some information on the stationary hackle. In future Comb and Hackle tutorials I will go more in depth with each of the combs as well as the various things you can do with the comb and hackle set other than the obvious combing of fleece to remove VM, nepps, second cuts, and other undesirables in your fleece.

A Few Words About the Comb & Hackle Set

Eric's design of the Comb and Hackle sets is unique. After many prototypes and much testing he came up with a design that is efficient in combing, has minimal "catching of the tines", is extremely sturdy and functional, not to mention beautiful. The tines are set in the wooden base in such a way that they will not twist or come out even if you use plyers.....we tried. They will bend, that's just the nature of the beast but they are easily bent back into place with the tine straightener. The tips on all of our tines are slightly blunted for safety and we've found the slightly blunted tips work just as well as the needle sharp tips found on other manufacturer's tools. The tines can still poke and scrape so the tools should be respected and used with  safety in mind and covered when not in use. If my children at 10 years old could comb successfully with no injury any adult should be able to do it with no problem. For specific specs on the combs and hackles please see our Combs and Hackles shop page and the individual tool listings and for a bit more background on the design of the tools and their creation please see our Combs and Hackles Info page.

Get Your Stuff Together

When I comb I prefer to get everything I will need ready so it is handy and I don't have to search all over the house for it and interrupt my combing. I choose which comb I will use according to the fleece I will be combing, this time I'm combing washed/scoured Rambouillet fleece with some VM and have chosen my favorite comb, the Hybrid. I would highly recommend only combing washed fleece....trying to get the lanolin off of the tines before you could comb clean fleece would not be fun.  I have my tine straightener handy just in case I bend tines on my comb, my diz, a wrench for getting the clamps tight, and a spray bottle of water for static. If you find when combing your wool does have static, lightly mist it and the tines.......don't worry, the tines will not rust, they're stainless steel. Now we're ready to set up!

Setting Up The Hackle

The optimum "hackle height" to make combing more comfortable will vary with each person. Basically, your stationary hackle should be at approx. the same height as your arm when your elbow is bent at a 90 degree angle. Make sure the table you will be clamping your hackle to is a good sturdy heavy one or you may find yourself dragging it across the floor while you comb.  To set the hackle up, the edge of the hackle should be either flush with the edge of your table or slightly over the lip of the table (for recessed clamps hackle as pictured). The regular clamps should be pushed as far back into the hackle as they can go and the recessed clamps should be flush with the hackle face. Tighten your clamps down and then gently holding on to the sides of the tines sort of shake/pull on the hackle. If the hackle moves you need to tighten the clamps, if the table moved but the hackle didn't then you're ready. If neither the table or the hackle moved then I'm jealous, you have a better table than I do!

Loading Your Fiber

When I wash fleece I just don't have the time or patience to wash it to maintain lock structure so my fleece is going in all directions. Oh well. This time I'm using a Rambouillet fleece that has a 3" to 3 1/2" staple, is very springy, and has some VM. I grab a handful..in this case about 0.6 oz and load it on the hackle mostly trying to get it on the first two rows though as you can see it migrates to the back two rows as well.  When the hackle is about half full when pressed down gently measuring by the back two rows of tines it's full. This rule of thumb works well for wool because it tends to be poofy and springy naturally. When loading Alpaca and less springy fibers you would not want to load on this much but we will get to that in another tutorial.  If you overload your hackle you will not be able to comb it all off efficiently and you will have more waste than you should. After the hackle is full, fluff the fiber up evenly......usually within 1 1/2" of the first two rows or level with the back to rows.  I find it is best to stand with my feet apart and the right foot  slightly in front of the left....this gives me better balance and mobility while combing. Yes, I live on the edge and comb in sock feet most of the time.

Combing

Once your fiber is loaded you want to start with small "bites"  catching the tips working from side to side while holding the comb with 2 hands. Due to the design of the handle, after awhile you should be able to flip the comb in your hands without even looking at it....you'll know which direction it's pointing in just by the feel.  When you catch the tips in the comb turn the comb slightly downward to help pull off the fiber. There are videos on our Video page that explain this better than I can explain it in written words. Once you've combed off most of what's on the hackle very carefully lean over and comb off the backside of the hackle a few times (picture #4 in the above collage). Combing off the backside will not only comb off usable fiber so it doesn't  go to waste, but will also help loosen up the fiber in the front of the hackle. Finish combing off the fiber in the front of the hackle and remove the waste on the hackle.

Reloading the Hackle

Now your comb should look like Don Kings hair! Push the fiber further up the tines so it doesn't slide off the ends when you are transferring it back to the hackle. Again, catching the tips of the fiber on the first two rows of tines bring the comb down gently and pull toward you. If you try to reload the fiber by catching the fiber further in on the comb you will struggle to get it on the hackle so just catch the last 1" or so of the tips on the hackle tines. Repeat this flipping the comb each time so that you are transferring off both sides of the comb and don't forget to slide your fiber back up the tines occasionally so it doesn't come off the end of the comb. Comb and reload the hackle as many times as necessary to get out all the VM, nepps, second cuts, etc.........how many times you have to comb the fiber will greatly depend on the fleece and the comb you are using. I combed the rambouillet once and it was ready to diz off. After reloading your hackle fluff the fiber backup on the tines as you did when you loaded it for combing, clean the waste off of your comb, and comb again as many times as are necessary for your fiber. After you have combed your fiber to suit you, fluff the fiber up on the hackle and you're ready to diz.

Dizzing

For dizzing off of the stationary hackle I prefer to use the smaller 3/16" diz. Starting in the bottom right hand corner pull out a small bit of fiber, twist it gently on the end and thread it through the diz. Gently pull the fiber and push the diz toward the tines working your way across the bottom to the left hand side. Once you get to the left hand side continue dizzing back across to the right hand side. I find that the fiber will "walk" itself down the hackle when I diz the second half off. Dizzing does take practice! As you can see there is very little waste left on the hackle.

Straightening Tines/Misc

Occasionally when combing tines will get bent on either the hackle, the comb or both. It is very easy to bend them back into place. Simply take the tine straightener and put it over the bent tine and gently pull the tine back into place until it is aligned with the adjacent tines.

I originally loaded the hackle with 0.6 oz of fiber. Once combed and dizzed off I had 0.4 oz of gorgeous springy top with 0.2 oz of waste from both the hackle and the comb combined. If you find the waste from your combing is not suitable for your drum carder there are many things you can do with it. I prefer to save mine and make felted wool dryer balls while others like to use it as mulch, for stuffing toys etc, for needle felting, or even leaving it out for the birds to build nests with. Nothing goes to waste!

January 2012 Newsletter

We hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! There was no snow on the mountain for Christmas but my boys found other things to entertain themselves with. Eric and Alex took all the burnable broken Christmas ornaments and lined them up like an army. Then they proceeded to soak cotton balls with flammable liquid, light said cotton balls and launch them at the Christmas Ornament army with a homemade launcher. There was a big enough fire in our driveway to roast marshmallows. Never a dull moment here. Katie and I had a debate going on as to whether or not this was a "guy" thing or a "fire bug" thing. We decided there probably wasn't any difference so we went inside and ate cookies. We hope everyone has a healthy and prosperous New Year!!~~Beth

January Special: use coupon code 10TOP for 10% off all dyed top & roving

We launched our Wool Combs and Hackles Tutorials this month! There was a slight change in plans and we started with the Art Roving Hackle instead of the Comb and Hackle sets. Dizzing instructions will also be included with each tool tutorial as well as other tips and tricks. We will be going over each tool as in depth as we can and each tool may require more than one post so don't forget to get the RSS feed available or sign up on the Contact Us form on the Home page of our website to get our "heads up" emails so you don't miss any! Please feel free to ask questions and leave comments on the Tutorials! I will be answering questions concerning the tools and techniques in using them.

~~New in the shop!~~

Smooth WHATEVER batts are back! The batts are made with a variety of mill combed top, sparkle, faux cashmere, and firestar. Colors are grabbed at random and run through the drum carder creating a colorful crazy batt that will spin into a one of a kind yarn.



BMH Store Gift Certificates are now available!

We now offer a 4 Pitch English style Wool Comb and Hackle for $195.00! The set comes with the 4 pitch non-recessed stationary hackle and a 4 pitch comb of your choice (heavy, hybrid, or light).

~~January's Events~~

Fiber Indie eXperience Co-op's F.I.X. Chix January Prize Box Drawing
Starts: retroactive Dec 30
Ends: Jan 29th
Prize: 4 boxes filled with fiber and yarn goodies with a total value of approx. $400!! For more information see the F.I.X. Co-op Ravelry group or the Co-op page here on the website.

December News!

There's lots going on in December! No, I haven't started Christmas shopping yet..........I'm studying to be a professional procrastinator and so far I'm an A student. The December Newsletter is up on the website for all to see as of this morning:) We are now offering Custom Made for all of our bags and tool covers....all the info can be found on the shop page for Services/Custom Order. I will be adding the custom made listings for our tool covers as time allows, in the mean time you can just email me through the website or contact me through Ravelry (bluemtnhandcrafts).

OUR DECEMBER SPECIAL IS: 15% off Batts!!!!! use coupon code 15FIBER when you check out. Clearance and Custom Made batts are excluded from this discount

I need some input. I'm thinking of doing a set of educational posts here with photos starting with our fiber tools and their uses. Each tool has several uses so there would be several posts for each tool. I'm also thinking of creating Pages at the top of the blog to copy and paste the posts so they can be easily found for future reference. If you have something concerning the tools you would like explained or a technique or item you would like to see how to make please post and let me know!!! I'll be going over wool combing with our wool combs or wool hand combs, wool comb and hackle, and blending fibers using the wool combs, comb and hackle, blending hackle, and art roving hackle.

Oh! The Fiber Indie eXperience Co-op December event is underway!!!!! When you're doing your fiber Christmas shopping please don't forget to support small businesses, every order helps and is greatly appreciated:)