Lace Cutters Back in Stock

October 30, 2009

Update: January 10th, 2018. Unfortunately, The Thomas Company is no longer making the lace cutter. We hope to find a new manufacturer soon. Or, if you or a friend are handy with carpentry and would enjoy making 25 or so of these at a time please contact us at: catalog at davidmorgan.com or give us a call at: (800) 234-4934.

 

When we sold our last lace cutter several months ago, we discovered many people still wanted to purchase one.  We found The Thomas Company, a local Seattle company, to make a new lace cutter based on the old specs.

This leather tool is a favorite of magician and whipmaker Louie Foxx. Louie has told us he’s tried a lot of the other lace cutters and prefers this one for comfort and durability.

Made of beechwood, it holds an injector blade that adjusts the lace width from under 1/8 inch up to about 1/2 inch.  Two razor blades are included with each cutter.

Although the lace cutter is adjustable, we find it easiest to use multiple cutters set to each width we routinely need. For more information on using the lace cutter, please see David Morgan’s book Braiding Fine Leather.

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Kangaroo Skin

Braiding Books

Pecard Leather Dressing

What is Worsted Wool?

October 2, 2009

Cooler weather has arrived throughout most of the country. For those of you fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to need your wool sweater, you may find it is actually made of worsted wool. Just what happens to wool that makes it worsted? But before we go into that, it’s important to note why worsted wool is such a great fabric.

 

A worsted wool fabric is tighter and stronger than other wool fabrics. It can hold its shape, has a fine drape and keep a crease. It is much smoother. For those reasons, many garments are now made with worsted wool.

 

The difference between worsted wool and other spun wool starts in the earliest stage of preparing the yarn. Both worsted and spun wools are carded. Imagine two blocks of wood with tiny pins on one side. The wool is placed between the two blocks and the blocks are pulled in opposite directions. This process untangles the wool and places the fibers alongside each other. It also removes any debris that may have gotten embedded into the wool.

 

Next, and this happens only to worsted wool, the fibers are combed. Imagine two sets of long, metal teeth. One holds the wool while the other is swiped through the bundle. This pulls the fibers into alignment even further than the carding and removes short and brittle fibers. The wool staple must be over four inches long in order to be spun into worsted wool yarn. It also removes additional debris.

 

Now the long staples are ready to be spun. Because of the combing and carding process, the fibers can be spun much more tightly than other woolens. David Morgan sells several worsted wool sweaters. You can find them at the links below:

 

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Devold Sweaters

Discover the Warmth of Wool

 

 

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