My swing picker (looks much like this one) is my other medieval torture tool. Seriously just look at those tines!!There are box pickers and swing pickers. There are a few manufacturers and also DIY versions on the internet.
With DIY instructions in hand I originally asked a carpenter
friend of mine if he would make one for me.
Even he looked wide eyed at all those long stainless steel nails (in the picture) and responded, “you have
got to be kidding”. Well no, I wasn’t kidding,
and no, he wasn’t willing to risk injury in his backyard workshop making such a
dangerous looking implement.
So, off to the internet I went again to look for an
affordable one. Eventually I found a
lovely lady who was needing to downsize her fibre hoard and fibre implements so a near
new one found a new home from her garage to my wool shed. And I then had a swing picker.
Why did I think I needed a swing picker?Well firstly it is a bit hard to ‘try before you buy’ many of these tools as they are few and far between. I hear that many guilds have a selection of tool to try and borrow but as I wasn’t a member of a guild I didn’t have that luxury. Given I was now processing whole fleeces I thought a wool picker would come in handy.
Do’s and Don’ts of wool picking
- Do use with sufficient clearance between you and anything else.
- Sit back from your wool picker (you don’t want your jumper or t-shirt getting picked!)
- Do understand the ideal set up of your implement. The spacing of the tines for the type of fleece you are picking is important. Some implements should always be adjusted with the tines slightly apart, while some are built to interlock the tines slightly as they are offset.
- Do wash your wool before picking. Alpaca doesn’t need to be washed first as it has no sticky lanolin.
- Do sweep it out VERY CAREFULLY and thoroughly after each use.
- Don't use out in the open unless it is a breezeless day. Your fluff will blow away.
- Don't push your fingers too far into the area where the tines are. (Hopefully this one doesn't need more explaining!)
- Don't use near small children or inquisitive pets.
- Don't overload it. More is not better and getting too much fibre jammed between the tines makes for a dangerous exercise to sort it out.
- You can spin from the cloud without further processing.
- Use this ‘fluff’ to card or even comb into roving.
- You can dye your fluff but be careful not to agitate it or it will turn into felt.
- You can use your picker to begin the blending process with different coloured fibres.
The benefits of a wool picker?
- It quickly gets rid of small amounts of VM.
- It fluffs up your fibre.
- It can help you begin to blend large amounts of fibre.
What have I learnt about my picker?
It is one of many tools in my arsenal of fibery things. I really like to process alpaca fibre through the
picker as it is the quickest and easiest way to get the VM out. Feel free to pop your fibre through more than
once.
Useful links
https://spidersworkshop.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/building-a-wool-picker/
How to use a Fleece Swing Picker - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg6mTIFHcgI&feature=youtu.be
Happy Spinning :-)
