Hand Combing BFL

A couple of weeks ago, a friend helped me make wool combs out of 2" thick walnut. After doing a lot of research, I decided that the tine spacing should mimic the Valkyrie Extra Fines. Trenchwork's blog post on combs helped tremendously.

I also referenced a post on imgur for the comb-making process:
Making Wool Combs

We made the combs with 3/32" diameter steel rods, cut 6" long, and sharpened at the ends with a bench grinder. 

The wood was a solid block of wood that had the handle rounded by sanding.

The holes were hand-drilled, and the tines were placed into the combs by hammering them in with a brass hammer. This blunted the tips which made the combs much less dangerous.

I'm very pleased with how the handmade combs function. The tines are not perfectly straight, but it seems not to matter too much. 

I've found some helpful videos on wool combing:
naturalspinner - combing Romney
Sue McFarland - combing on Viking combs

When I comb, I'm following Sue and the naturalspinner's method, however, for this BFL fleece I do two additional passes to get rid of the extra VM and noils.

The fleece is from a local shepherdess about 3 hours away... she hand sheared this fleece and it is from a 6 yo mature BFL ewe. The 6lb bargain fleece was in "needs work" condition with burrs and VM, and took a lot of time to scour and align in locks. I actually feel very accomplished when I take a fleece people think nobody may want and turn it into something beautiful!

See my process below...

Organized bin of locks

Pick a few locks at a time

Fluff up the ends a bit

Gently pull fiber apart at the ends more

Lash butt end onto comb gently

Transfer to free comb

Use combs to transfer until you can't anymore, then pull of remaining bit and transfer by hand.

Remove waste

Transfer back to original comb

Repeat... remove waste

Waste from two passes

Transfer again...

Waste from three passes

Inspect the fiber for noils and excess vm... I decided to do another full back and forth on the combs

Pick a small bit of fiber and pull

Use a hook and diz to start the sliver

Pull fiber through the diz, push diz up the fiber, repeat

The thinner end is the tip of the lock

I roll the sliver into a nest, starting from the tip. I tuck the butt end into the nest - this helps me remember the orientation

Here is a finished yarn - 2 ply, worsted spun, 15 wpi

Close up yarn - shows some vm