What Does Carding Mean?

Carding the wool means cleaning, separating and straightening wool fibers. It is the last stage in the process which prepares fleece for spinning. It is done after the wool is 'teased' meaning fluffing the wool with swift side to side movements. Carding is done either manually or with the help of machines.

Carding is not applied universally to all fibers, for instance flax is not carded but threshed instead. Bast, wool and cotton are generally carded. Different colours or a mixture of fibers is also possible with carding. The hand driven carding machine was the invention of Lewis Paul in 1748. He hailed from Birmingham in England. His rather rudimentary invention was developed by Samuel Crompton and Richard Arkwright .

Manual carding is done with the help of hand cards. They are a couple of wooden paddles which have wire teeth. In order to straighten the wool fibres they are brushed thoroughly with the hand cards. This results in soft fluffy wool which can be easily spun. Machine carding is done with a device called a drum carder.

Carding as a word is used in two contexts, a torture process and a textile manufacturing process.

The torture process of carding consisted of tearing out the sufferer's flesh with combs made of metal. These combs were originally used to comb wool.

Carding in textiles refers to the process wherein washed or raw strands of fibre are brushed in order to make them suitable for textile production. Carding involves the untying, cleaning and straightening of fibre to make it ready for the textile process. This can be done manually or by machine.

An assortment of fibres is suitable for the process of carding. These include llama, fibre obtained from soy beans (soy silk), bast, even dog hair. Most common examples of carded fibre are wool and cotton. Some fibres that cannot be carded include flax, that is threshed instead of carded.

Carding also serves to make blends of two or more diverse fibres of different colours.