Blog #3

Preparing for Shearing Season!

So …, I just put in an order for a few more combs and cutters.  These are similar to the sharp parts of clipper heads your barber or hair stylist uses on their electric clippers.  In fact, the only real difference is shape and size.

Cutters slide across combs in a reciprocating motion to cut what comes through the teeth.  Commercial shearing combs are about three inches wide and usually have thirteen teeth.  Combs for goat hair typically have 17 – 19 teeth, and combs used in colder climates or very rough shearing conditions may have as few as nine. I’ve included a comb and cutter picture here.

 

13-tooth comb and 4-point cutter

 

If you look at the picture at the top of the blog you can see the teeth of the comb sticking out to the left with the cutter on top of it.   Notice there’s no guard on the front of the handpiece.  The cutter runs across the comb 2700 - 3600 times per minute, depending on how I have my machine set, so it comes out to 45 – 60 cycles per second.  Thirteen tooth combs have teeth about a quarter inch apart at the tips, and nine-tooth comb teeth are spread to about half inch.  I avoid nine tooth combs as I’m attached to my fingers, and I want to keep them attached to me.  Even with thirteen tooth combs I’ve had a fold of skin in the wrong place and nearly removed my fingerprints.  With that said, shearing isn’t so much dangerous as it is unforgiving. Fingers aren’t often out front of the handpiece, unless something isn’t quite right.

Many people don’t realize just how sharp and powerful modern shearing handpieces are until they hold one in their hands under power and realize just how quickly they will go through skin, human or animal.

Since combs and cutters are oiled metal gliding across metal under tension, cutting fiber constantly, they get dull and have to be swapped out during shearing.  This is why shearers will have 50-100 cutters and a dozen or more combs.  It’s much faster and more cost-effective to have a ready supply than to stop shearing, get out a custom grinder, and grind between sheep.  I generally wait until I have 4-5 combs and 10-15 cutters in the used bin, them sharpen them all at once.

Combs and cutters are set, so now it’s time to double check the handpiece.

C-Ya!

 

*** No animals were harmed in the making of this post. Shearing is an important part of sheep farming for the wellbeing of the sheep. ***