pjhandcrafts

About Our Combs

We currently sell 4 types of combs:
- Minis: our smallest, 2-pitch combs
- Pack Flats: 2-pitch combs with removable handles that are slightly bigger than Minis
- Standards: our most popular, 2-pitch combs
- 4-pitch Pack Flats: same tines as the Standards with extra rows and removable handles

For most wools that are commonly available to handspinners, any of the 4 sets of combs would be fine The Minis & Pack Flats are 2-pitch (2 rows of tines) and have thinner tines set at "fine" spacing (3/16" centers spacing). The Standards are 2-pitch and have thicker tines set at just over fine spacing--about 7/32" spacing. The 4-pitch Pack Flat combs are the same as Standards with 2 extra rows of tines and removable handles. (Note: "fine" and "standard" spacings are terms and measurements I found in use by several companies when I was researching combs and some vendors may use different measurements.)

The Minis and Pack Flats are particularly great for fine wools like merino, rambouillet, shetland, etc. but they can easily handle less fine wools too like southdown, polworth, corriedale, etc. They will also do coarser wools but it may take a little longer to process it. Since the Pack Flats have a little more tine area this is not as big an issue as with the Minis (not that it really makes THAT much difference, esp. if combing for spindling).

The Standards will do a good job with finer fleece but may take a bit longer since the fiber may need a couple extra passes between combs. They are especially good with the more medium to medium-fine wool types like cotswold, corriedale, romney, leicester, cheviot, etc. These are our most all-purpose combs.

4-pitch combs work best with long, fine fibers. A fiber can be long or short. and the longer it is, the better it works with a 4-pitch (or 5-pitch English style) comb. A fiber can be coarse or fine and the finer it is, the better it works with a 4-pitch (or 5-pitch English style) comb. Most sheep's wool is relatively coarse when it’s long. The finest fibers are things like angora and cashmere, which tend to be only an inch or two long. For combing on a 4-pitch comb, you’d want fiber that’s 4” long, and 12” is better, and as fine as you can possibly get. BUT, you can use the 4-pitch combs with shorter fibers by only lashing the fiber onto the front two rows of tines and essentially using them as 2-pitch combs.