Ashford Drum Carders

NEW! Two Speed Drum Carder! Ashford Drum Carders

Ashford drum carders can card a large 50 gr (2 ounce) batt. The Ashford carder offers two speeds: Use the ratio of 6:1 for preparing your fleece. The controlled intake will produce a smooth batt even batt ready for blending, spinning or felting. Use the 4: 1 ratio to blend sliver, colors or different fiber types. They are great for carding wool,  blending fibers: wool and mohair, merino and silk, experiment! Ashford drum carders offer adjustable 7.5 inch wide drums to suit all fibers. A strong poly belt on the outside of the drum carder frame allows for a smooth carding operation. Danish oil finish. Comes complete with clamps and doffer. FREE shipping in the continental US.

NEW! Brush Attachment for Ashford Drum Carder

This brush will help make a thicker batt. Great when carding extremely fine fibers such as angora bunny.

NEW! The Ashford Book of Carding, Jo Reeve
Learn how to use flick cards, hand cards and drum carders. Find out how to process fleece into roving and how to blend colors and fibers. Projects: Self-striping socks; Merino mittens; Triangular shawl; Merino and silk scarf. 92pp.

Louet Drum Carders

No Need to Tease! Feed fiber directly into the licker-in (feeder drum) Louet drum carders have a larger licker-in drum and no need to adjust drums or drum placement! Louet drum carder teeth are longer and flexible! Louet drum carders eat right out of your hand!  Louet drum carders have twice as much capacity as other drum carders! Louet carders emove dirt from fiber as it cards and sealed gears prevent dirt and fibers from getting into the machine! Doffer brush, clamps and doffer pin included!

Let Louet quality speak for itself: Louet has been manufacturing Louet Drum Carders for more than 20 years for the market world wide and has never had to replace carding cloth due to wear of the carding cloth that could be attributed to the intertwining of the teeth. Again, in more than 20 years, Louet has never replaced a gearbox.

Louet Roving Carder 

Roving Carder with fine cloth and a 4 inch wide drum. Enclosed gears for smooth and easy operation. No lubrication is needed, and no adjustment of any kind is required to keep this carder in great shape! High, flexible teeth that allow for a heavier batt. Fully assembled. Complete with doffer brush, clamps and doffer.

See how easy it is to use a Louet drum carder!

Louet Drum Carder 

Louet Drum Carders have a 8" wide drum for large carding capacity. The enclosed gearbox assures smooth operation, while the extra high, flexible, intermeshing  teeth allow for a heavier batt than other drum carders as well as a high carding efficiency. Easy to use these drum carders have stood the test of time. Choose from coarse or fine cloth. 

Strauch Drum Carders

The Strauch drum carders, formerly called Fricke drum carders, offer a sturdy chain drive for no-slip, durable operation. Paired with a solid, attractive wood frame and a "Slicker-Licker" drum that feeds the fiber evenly and quickly without damaging them, the Strauch drum carders make carding you fleece easy. Strauch drum carders have been produced for over 25 years and proven themselves among spinners and fiber artists. Now produced by Strauch Fiber Equipment Co in Virginia, Strauch drum carders drum carders are an investments for years to come. Doffer brush and knuckle-saving-batt-picker and dabber brush included with all drum carders. Lifetime warranty. Proudly produced in the U.S.A. Choose from three models and three different carding clothes. 

Which carding cloth should I choose?

Full Size Strauch Drum Carder 200's Series

An 8" wide drum, the sturdy chain drive mechanism and the "slicker-licker" drum are the strong points of this versatile drum carder. The "slicker-licker" drum pre-aligns the fibers and allows for a more gentle carding action.  Overall batt size is approx 7" by 22". Sturdy wood frame. Choose from regular,  fine or extra fine carding cloth. Double wide models produce a batt about 14" by 22 long. Optional brush attachment for fine "fly-away" fibers.

The Finest Strauch Drum Carder

A 5:1 gear ratio, and an extra husky 6" frame make this the ultimate in home carding. Sturdy chain drive mechanism and the "slicker-licker" drum. The "slicker-licker" drum pre-aligns the fibers and allows for a more gentle carding action. This drum carder can be placed anywhere on your work surface without hindering the carding operation, due to the higher frame.  Wood frame with honey-oak finish. 8" wide drum makes a batt that is about 7" by 22" long. Extra fine carding cloth with brush attachment. (This feature is standard with the Finest Drum Carder, optional with the Petite and the 200's Series) Complete with doffer brush, knuckle saving batt picker, clamps, teasing tool and dabber brush as shown above. Also available as a double wide model with a 15" wide drum that makes a 14" wide batt.

Purchase a Strauch Finest drum carder and get the "The Ashford Book of Carding" FREE with purchase! Teach yourself how to create custom color and fiber blends!

The Strauch Petite Drum Carder

This compact  Strauch drum carder kit is designed to save you $$ without compromising results. It is light weight and portable, the feed tray even slides under the drum carder.  Durable polyurethane belt drive. 6.5" wide drum with extra fine carding cloth. Shown with optional brush attachment

Which carding cloth should I choose?

Regular: 72 teeth per square inch, Can be used for coarse and mid-range fibers such as Cheviot, Romney and adult Mohair. Useful for long fibers such as Border Leichester to get a deep batt. NOT recommended for fine fibers.

Fine: 98 teeth per square inch. For most fibers, again NOT recommended for fine fibers.

Extra Fine: 128 teeth per square inch. For ALL fibers, especially very fine varieties. Can be used for Merino, Llama, Alpaca, Cashmere, Dog Hair and other exotics.

Strauch Drum Carder Accessories

Brush Attachments

Brush attachments for drum carders act like a third drum. They compact the batt, make it thicker and help with those "fly-away" fibers such as angora.

Knuckle Saving Batt Picker

Use to separate batt from carding drum at seam by lifting and away from teeth.

Teasing Tool

Use this nifty tool to pre-tease fibers before carding

Other drum carder accessories such as clamps, doffer brush, and drum carder belts available by special order. E mail us for info.

Hand Cards

Louet Handcards

Made from Tulipwood, a popular Dutch variety, these light weight hand cards have curved handles and contoured backs that will make carding wool comfortable. Choose from three Louet hand cards  and one flick card.

Standard pair of wool hand cards with medium fine cloth: 45psi

Standard pair of cotton  hand cards with extra fine cloth: 60psi

Mini Cotton hand cards with extra fine cloth have half size paddles. Ideal for small quantities or people with wrist problems

Ashford Hand Cards

Standard Hand Cards

These hand carders offer a curved carding surface and nice detailing. Choose from 72 tpi for all wools or 108 tpi for fine wools and cotton.

Student Hand Cards

Ashford hand carders with 72 tpi and a unique curved one-piece design make these ideal for all wools.

Flick Cards

Louet Flicker

Curved Tulipwood paddles, is 2"x4" and has less flexible teeth that the other cards. Used to tease locks for fiber preparation. 

Ashford Flicker

Ashford flick cards has 72 tpi. Great for pre-teasing or carding smaller amounts of fibers.

Louet Mini Combs

Light in weight and easy to handle, these popular Louet wool combs will make combing a breeze! Single row wool combs work great for medium to fine fibers  and double row combs are ideal for combing fine wool or de-hairing luxury fibers such as Cashmere or Pygora. 

Learn how to use Louet Mini Combs

About Louet Drum Carders

The most important difference between the Louet drum carders and other drum carders is the method of supplying fiber to the drums. Most drum carders have a feed tray where teased fibers are deposited and then pushed towards the small or intake drum. Next, this intake drum transports the fibers to the large drum. The Louet drum carder has a small board below and in front of the in-take drum. This board exists for construction purposes only. The board is not designed to be a feed tray.

To feed the Louet drum carder, take some fibers in your left hand, and have the in-take drum pull this fiber out of your left hand, while you turn the crank on the large drum. Carefully, do not allow too much fiber to be pulled out of your hand. You will develop a kind of sliver between your hand and the in-take drum. This is a fiber preparation, akin to the teasing required for other drum carders, and is therefore a time-saving feature of the Louet drum carder. As a result of the fibers being pulled out of your hand, the majority of fibers will be orientated in the direction of the carding action.

This effect cannot be created by teasing, but it is essential in obtaining the required carding effect.

Other drum carders with feed trays will experience tufts of fiber being delivered to the in-take roll perpendicular to the direction of the carding action; this is unavoidable. Partial compensation for this problem is having a larger difference of surface speed between the in-take drum and the large drum. The drawback to this solution is that it takes longer to card the same amount of fiber with other drum carders when compared to the Louet Drum Carder. The higher surface speed differential is also harder on the fibers. To calculate the surface speed differential, multiply the drive ratio with the ratio of the diameters of the two drums.

To have the fibers pull out of your hand smoothly while turning the drum carder handle requires some practice. The results, however, are worth the effort.

Fibers are held down by the carding cloth after the fibers are deposited on the large drum and do not change position. It is our experience that extra drums with the Louet Drum Carder have minimal benefit.

The Louet drum carder has ½" high carding cloth instead of ¼" like our competitors. The practical result of higher teeth on the carding cloth is that the Louet drum carder can hold twice as much fiber as our competitors drum carders.

The quantity of fiber that can be carded to a batt depends on the size of the large drum and the size of the teeth. If you want to card a small amount of fiber, we advise to fill only the center portion of the large drum. It is easier to remove the batt from the middle of the drum than to remove a thinner batt from the whole drum.

The drums on an industrial carder are adjusted so that they do not touch each other. This is necessary due to the multiple steps required in the industrial carding process. It is our experience, however, that with a drum carder that has cloth with flexible teeth, the best results are obtained when the teeth intertwine. The exact depth of intertwining is not important. Louet has been manufacturing Louet Drum Carders for more than 20 years for the market world wide and we have never had to replace carding cloth due to wear of the carding cloth that could be attributed to the intertwining of the teeth.

The distance between the drums of the Louet Drum Carders cannot be adjusted. In general, the fewer adjustments required, the less likely that something can go wrong. The closed gearbox required no maintenance or adjustments.

Again, in more than 20 years, we have never replaced a gearbox.

The guards on the sides of the drums cause the fibers to stay on the drums and not accumulate around the shafts of the drums. This saves cleaning time and adjusting time that is required by our competitors.

Besides higher teeth the Louet carding cloth also has two other significant differences with our competitor's carding cloth. The teeth are placed in the carding cloth in a way that allows the teeth to flex in the direction of the carding action. This flexing makes the carding process easier on the fibers, causing less fiber breakage. The teeth are staggered alternately. They do not form continuous rows of teeth as in other drum carders. The combined effects of these teeth and teeth placement is a more homogeneous carding result.

Due to the unique features of teeth placement, size, and flexibility, the commonly used comparative feature of "number of teeth per square" in carding cloth does not give an accurate indication of what to expect from Louet Drum Carders.

The in-take drum on the Louet drum carder accumulates more fibers than other drum carders. For best result, we recommend to leave this fiber on the take-up drum, and only clean the take-up drum if it is absolutely necessary due to incompatibility of fiber to be carded, or color changes.