| Although the process are simple for each machine, there are many process to complete. All fiber must be inspected to remove unwanted matter which includes excessive vegetation, manure, plastic and foreign objects. All fiber is then washed in a simple system of several sinks, wash twice and rinse twice. The soap is a biodegradable industrial product. Correct washing is critical to ensure trouble-free processing. Water temperature and other factors vary from one fiber to another, but it is a routine task where one person can process about 10 pounds per hour by hand or more using washing machines. The water is spun out and the fiber spread on racks to dry. For this we have drying cabinets and the fiber dries in about 12 hours. |
|
 |
This completes the first phase of the work to which all fiber is subjected. From this point on marketable products appear at the output side of each machine and the fiber takes different paths. |
| The picker is an ideal machine to develop any blend of different fibers in the correct percentages. It is also the process that establishes the mix of fibers from different animals to achieve a consistently even product. We also use this step to build large dye batches to avoid dye lot variations. |
 |
 |
The conditioned fiber now goes to the dehairer, we believe that this machine is the most important on removing vegetation and guard hair, some fiber may have to make numerous passes through the fiber separator before we feel it is clean enough to proceed to the carder. |
| All fiber must be carded and this is truly the heart of the mill. If carding is not successful there is no point in further processing. There is rarely any problem here is preceding steps such as washing and opening have been properly executed. There are two prducts from carding-Batts which go for feltmaking or to handspinners and Rovings which go on for spinning. |
 |
 |
Now following the two products we find the batts going to the felt machine which makes a sheet of felt 36" x 48" in about 10 minutes. Allowing for set up and removing the finished sheet, this gives a rate of about 3 sheets per hour. All this depends on thickness of the sheet, type of fiber, how hard or firm the finished product is to be. Longer time in the machine can produce harder felt which is useful for applications such as hat making. |
| The other path is the rovings for spinning. This is directed by the sliver maker into a container and its length measured so that each can contains the same quantity and subsequent machines empty the cans at the same time. This process is accomplished by compacting the carded fiber in a twisting and untwisting sequence so the rovings retain sufficient strength or integrity to be automatically fed into further machines. |
 |
 |
The raw fiber has now been washed, dried, conditioned and carded so that the fibers are all separate from each other, parrallel and organized into an endless stream of even size throughout its entire length. |
| The next machine task is drafting which is a process of establishing the desired size required for this particular roving. For this we use a draw frame which accepts several rovings at once and in a brushing action further aligns the fibers to be more parallel and reduces the multiple rovings into a single roving of smaller size. Each pass through the draw frame averages any thick or thin sections of the roving and improves the consistency ready for spinning. |
 |
 |
Now comes spinning! for this we are dependent on the fineness of the end product to determine our throughput. There are many ways to spin and we use Ring spinning as the chosen method to give us exceptional control and flexability to switch between products. The spinner produces single ply yarn and we then move to the plying operation to create 2, 3, or 4 ply yarn. |
| Yarns need to be set after spinning to stabilize the structure of the yarn and prevent unpredictable behavior in knitting or weaving operations. For this we use a steamer which passes the yarn through a steam chamber, dries it and passes it forward to be wound on a cone or a skein. |
 |
The fiber is then labeled and the customer notified that their fiber is processed.
|
