broadclothshearman

A twitter account documenting my attempts to produce a good living history demonstration of medieval and Tudor broadcloth shearing. Main acct @guthrie_stewart

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

Wool combs in use, for long staple wool for worsted.

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

I have two different shapes of havette / harbick, the double ended hookie things for holding cloth in place. You do not need many, I use 3 each side both shapes work well but I can see that the straight ones would be abit better on a flat board and the curved on a non flat.

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

I think I have read of more modern cloths where there is a light teaselling and shearing to make sure that there is a smooth clear surface by removing loose ends of fibres

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

I have taken to calling this a stunt cloth, standing in for a real broadcloth. You can see how messy it looks with the napping, my job is to shear it down to a more even surface but leaving enough to cover the weave.

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

Here is some nap raised on the Welsh cotton,

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

You can see how much of the shears blade is being used by the build up of fluff at the end of the cut. I wonder what they called the cropped fibres then?

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

Teasels get worn out, these have done maybe 4 square metres of cloth. The cloth itself is heavy duty and rough so likely to cause greater damage.

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

This year's setup is improved with a pole to hang the cloth from when teaselling.

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

Back at Kentwell, foot fulling a Welsh cotton replica, which will be teaselled once I am sure it has shrunk enough

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

Here it is in use, although I didn't set it up very well. It is essential to have and my feet fit under it whilst I am shearing.

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

At the weekend I picked up a wee thing to hold the rest of the fabric when shearing:

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

Have found that the London petty customs accounts for 1480/81 mention importation of teasels, teasel crosses and shears. I wonder how many teasels that adds up to?

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

At the weekend I picked up a wee thing to hold the rest of the fabric when shearing:

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

Ooops I meant to add this:

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

I have accidentally ordered a tray for the cloth on the board to hang down on, I will pick it up this weekend.

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

Such as in this photograph here, you need something to keep the cloth off the ground.

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

No hang on I think I'm getting inches and cm confused; so it is no different to the ones from Tartu in a paper in "the medieval Broadcloth" . #broadcloth

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

I have finally gotten a copy of an important article on broadcloth, "three samples of English fifteenth-century cloth" by Philipe Wolff.

[broadclothshearman @broadclothshear]

They were plain tabby weave, apparently 4 warp and 3 weft per 3mm, I think such an odd measurement is due to the fact that in only one small space were the surface fibres removed. Anyway, a much finer weave than I expected.