$690.00
My go-to carder is the new art carder from Strauch: THE MAD BATT'R!
I can't gush enough about this marvelous carder from the fabulous Strauch Fiber Equipment! (And I'm doubly bragging, because I got Otto to make it in the first place. :))
This carder is an art carder's dream come true, combining the thicker carding cloth and crazy-batt carding ability of the Louet Classic carders with the fine fiber brush, fiber-loving Slicker Licker blade-style cloth and the easy-turn, rugged chain drive mechanism of the Strauch Finest.
I'm madly in love with carding all over again!
Before this carder, I had a big crush on the Finest, but always left my really rough projects with big globs of fibery goodness to the Louet Classic, even though it's more work to crank and rougher on the fine fibers. I've found I can run handfuls of weirdies through the Mad Batt'r just as easily as I did with the Louet and that I still get the thrilling big fat 3-4oz batt full of chunky love, but that it's gentler on my fine fibers and sooo much easier to crank. Like all Strauch carders, you don't get waste fiber build-up on the licker-in, and you can diz a roving right off of the drum because the licker-in and main drum don't intermesh.
Cloth: 72 tpi, 1/2" deep! My batts have been averaging 3-4oz each.
It comes complete with the fine fiber brush attachment, flicker brush, cleaner brush, knuckle-saving batt pick and a set of clamps. Full assembled and ready to crank!
You'll also get a big fat package of miscellaneous fibers to get you started carding, and your shipping cost is just $10 (I cover the balance). Yippee!
I believe this to be the perfect production carder for art batts.