Cheap carders?

[dylan1984]

I have a huge bag of wool fleece - dirty and raw and I plan to wash and card it and make it into pillows. I am a complete novice to any of this. I have been told that I can just use two of the carder-looking dog brushes to card it, but then I was told that this doesn't work at all. So I wondered what the consensus is here? Also, if the consensus ends up being that real carders are essential, does anybody know where I can find any for cheap - meaning maybe $20 or something? Maybe this is crazy as the ones I've found have all been inthe $50-100 range. I've looked on ebay and craigslist and nothing really - ebay just had new ones ($$) and nothing on craigslist. I just don't want to pay a whole bunch as we are on a budget and I don't know if its something I will really enjoy and want to do again.

Thanks so much for your help!

[dalerose]

Well, I just use the dog brushes. They are quite small, so you only do a tiny bit at a time. It is time consuming. It took days to get enough to make a doll, I would not like to think how much you need for pillows.
Can you ask around to see if anyone local has drum carder you could use?

[flapjack]

Talk to your local spinners guild.

I'm unclear, are you planning on wetfelting or spinning and knitting? What's the fleece like? Any idea what the breed is?

In your shoes, I'd take a really good long look at the fleece. Unroll it. It should be in one piece, look smooth, with no fluffy little short cuts where the shearer's done the same bit twice. Pull out a lock of fleece- take hold of both ends and give it a tug. It shouldn't break. Then gently pull them apart to determine the length of the staple. IF all of the conditions above apply and the staple is between 2 and 5 inches long, then it's actually possible to spin it in the grease without carding or combing at all.