Combing

Combing is a method for preparing carded fiber for spinning. Combing is divided into linear and circular combing. The Noble comb is an example of circular combing. The French comb is an example of linear combing. The process of combing is accompanied by gilling, a process of evening out carded or combed top making it suitable for spinning. Combing separates out short fibers by means of a rotating ring or rectilinear row of steel pins. The fibers in the 'top' it produces, have been straightened and lie parallel to each other. When combing wool, the discarded short fibers are called noils, and are ground up into shoddy.

In general there are two main systems of preparing fiber for yarn: the worsted system and the woollen system. The worsted system is defined by the removal of short fibers by combing and top preparation by gilling. In the woollen system short fibers are retained, and it may or may not involve combing.

Description

The circular combs used have long metal teeth, and only barely resemble the comb used on hair. However, they are used in a similar fashion with one comb holding the fiber, which is slowly dubbed in by a brush, while the other is moved through, slowly transferring the fiber to the moving comb.

Combing (torture)

Combing, sometimes known as carding, (despite carding being a completely different process), is a sometimes-fatal form of torture in which iron combs designed to prepare wool and other fibres for woolen spinning are used to scrape, tear, and flay the victim's flesh.

Iron comb

The iron combs typically used for torture were sturdy instruments with one or two rows of teeth, each a few inches in length and designed to prepare wool and other fibres for woolen spinning. Used for combing rough fibres, these instruments resembled miniature garden rakes.

History

The tradition that a torturous death by combing with a kanphos was inflicted by Croesus was recorded by Herodotus. Later mentions from the Middle East and Asia Minor often associate combing with heroic martyrdom for the sake of belief in the Abrahamic God and loyalty to one's Jewish, Christian, or Muslim faith. Specific episodes of combing are mentioned in the Talmud and in the martyrologies of several Christian saints, notably Saint Blasius, whose iconic attribute was the comb. Khabbab ibn al-Aratt, a companion of Muhammad and one of the first ten persons to convert to Islam, taught that a man should remain faithful to Islam even if his flesh should be torn away from his bones with an iron comb.